ARTHUR  T.PIERSON 


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Prnfi^fianr  Swtamtn  ®r^rktnrt&g^  Uarfi^li 

Mtqmnti^tb  bg  I|tm  ta 

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Prinrrton  Slt^nlngtral  ^^mtttar^ 

BS  2655  .S25  P53  1898 
Pierson,  Arthur  Tappan,  183J 

In  Christ  Jesus  ' 


IN  CHRIST  JESUS 


OR 


THE  SPHERE 


OF  THE 


BELIEVER'S   LIFE 


BY  ., 

ARTHUR   T.  PIERSON 

Author  of  "  The  Crisis  of  Missions,"  "  Miracles  of  Mis- 
sions," "  Mani/  Infallible  Proofs,"  "  New 
Acts  of  the  Apostles,"  etc.,  etc. 


FUNK  &  WAGNALLS  COMPANY 

NEW   YORK   AND   LONDON 

1898 


Copyright,  1898,  by 

FUNK  &  WAGNAI,I,S  COMPANY 

Registered  at  Stationer's  Hall,  I,ondon,  England 

Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


To  my  brother,  beloved 

In  Christ  Jesus, 

•Rev*  C.  ir.  SCOfiClD,  2),5)„ 

whose  fellowship  in  faith 

and  Bible  study 

have  done  much  to  stimulate  and 

encourage  Christian  believers; 

and  to  all  who 

have  found  in  Christ  Jesus 

the  Sphere 

of  all  Life  and  Blessings 

this  book  is  inscribed^ 


INTRODUCTORY 

rHKRK  is  in  a  Russian  palace,  a 
famous  *'  Saloon  of  Beauty,'* 
wherein  are  hung  over  eight  hundred 
and  fifty  portraits  of  young  maidens. 
These  pidlures  were  painted  by  Count 
Rotari,  for  Catharine  the  Second,  the 
Russian  empress  ;  and  the  artist  made 
a  journey,  through  the  fifty  provinces 
of  that  vast  empire  of  the  north,  to 
find  his  models. 

In  these  superb  portraits  that  cover 
the  walls  of  this  saloon,  there  is  said 
to  be  a  curiously  expressed  compliment 
to  the  artist's  royal  patron,  a  compli- 
ment half  concealed  and  half  revealed. 
In  each  separate  pidlure,  it  is  said, 
might  be  detedled,  by  the  close  ob- 
server, some  hidden,  delicate  reference 
to  the  empress  for  whom  they  were 
painted.     Here  a  feature  of  Catharine 


vi  iTn  Cbrfet  5e0U6 

appears;  there  an  attitude  is  repro- 
duced, some  adl,  some  favorite  adorn- 
ment or  environment,  some  jewel, 
fashion,  flower,  style  of  dress,  or  man- 
ner of  life — something  peculiar  to,  or 
charadleristic  of,  the  empress — so  that 
the  walls  of  the  saloon  are  lined  with 
just  so  many  silent  tributes  to  her 
beauty,  or  compliments  to  her  taste. 
So  inventive  and  ingenious  is  the  spirit 
of  human  flattery  when  it  seeks  to 
glorify  a  human  fellow-mortal,  break- 
ing its  flask  of  lavish  praise  on  the  feet 
of  an  earthly  monarch. 

The  Word  of  God  is  a  pidlure-gal- 
lery,  and  it  is  adorned  with  tributes  to 
the  blessed  Christ  of  God,  the  Savior 
of  mankind.  Here  a  prophetic  portrait 
of  the  coming  One,  and  there  an  his- 
toric portrayal  of  Him  who  has  come, 
here  a  typical  sacrifice,  and  there  the 
bleeding  Lamb  to  whom  all  sacrifice 
looked  forward ;  here  a  person  or  an 
event  that  foreshadowed  the  greatest 


irntro&uctorig  vii 


of  persons  and  the  events  that  are  the 
turning-points  of  history;  now  a  para- 
ble, a  poem,  an  objecft-lesson,  and 
then  a  simple  narration  or  exposition 
or  explanation,  that  fills  with  divine 
meaning  the  mysteries  that  have  hid 
their  meaning  for  ages,  waiting  for  the 
key  that  should  unlock  them.  But,  in 
whatever  form  or  fashion,  whatever 
guise  of  fadt  or  fancy,  prophecy  or 
history,  parable  or  miracle,  type  or 
antitype,  allegory  or  narrative,  a  dis- 
cerning eye  may  everywhere  find  Him 
— God's  appointed  Messiah,  God's 
anointed  Christ.  Not  a  human  grace 
that  has  not  been  a  faint  forecast  or  re- 
flec5lion  of  His  beauty,  in  whom  all 
grace  was  enshrined  and  enthroned — 
not  a  virtue  that  is  not  a  new  exhibi- 
tion of  His  attrac5liveness.  All  that 
is  glorious  is  but  a  phase  of  His  in- 
finite excellence,  and  so  all  truth 
and  holiness,  found  in  the  Holy  Scrip- 
ture, are  only  a  new  tribute  to  Him 


ITn  Cbr(6t  5esu0 


who  is  the  Truth,  the  Holy  One  of 
God. 

This  language  is  no  exaggeration; 
on  such  a  theme  not  only  is  exagger- 
ation impossible,  but  the  utmost 
superlative  of  human  language  falls  in- 
finitely short  of  His  divine  worth,  be- 
fore whose  indescribable  glory  cheru- 
bim and  seraphim  can  only  bow,  veiling 
their  faces  and  covering  their  feet. 
The  nearer  we  come  to  the  very  throne 
where  such  majesty  sits,  the  more  are 
we  awed  into  silence.  The  more  we 
know  of  Him,  the  less  we  seem  to 
know,  for  the  more  boundless  and 
limitless  appears  what  remains  to  be 
known.  Nothing  is  so  conspicuous  a 
seal  of  God  upon  the  written  Word, 
as  the  facft  that  everywhere,  from 
Genesis  to  Revelation,  we  may  find  the 
Christ;  and  nothing  more  sets  the 
seal  of  God  upon  the  living  Word 
than  the  fadl  that  He  alone  explains 
and  reveals  the  Scriptures. 


ITntroDuctoris 


Our  present  undertaking  is  a  very- 
simple  one.  We  seek  to  show,  by  a  few 
examples,  the  boundless  range  and 
scope  of  one  brief  phrase  of  two  or  three 
short  words:  in  Christ,  or,  in  Christ 
Jksus.  a  very  small  key  may  open 
a  very  complex  lock  and  a  very  large 
door,  and  that  door  may  itself  lead 
into  a  vast  building  with  priceless 
stores  of  wealth  and  beauty.  This 
brief  phrase  —  a  preposition  followed 
by  a  proper  name  —  is  the  key  to  the 
whole  New  Testament. 

Those  three  short  words,  ' '  in  Christ 
Jesus y^^  are,  without  doubt,  the  most 
important  ever  written,  even  by  an  in- 
spired pen,  to  express  the  mutual  re- 
lation of  the  believer  and  Christ. 
They  occur,  with  their  equivalents, 
over  one  hundred  and  thirty  times. 
Sometimes  we  meet  the  expression,  in 
Christ,  or  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  again  in 
Him,  or  in  Whom,  etc.  And  some- 
times this  sacred  name,  or  its  equiva- 


•ffn  Cbrtet  ^cens 


lent  pronoun,  is  found  associated  with 
other  prepositions — through,  with^  by; 
but  the  thought  is  essentially  the 
same.  Such  repetition  and  variety 
must  have  some  intense  meaning. 
When,  in  the  Word  of  God,  a  phrase 
like  this  occurs  so  often,  and  with  such 
manifold  applications,  it  can  not  be  a 
matter  of  accident;  there  is  a  deep  de- 
sign. God's  Spirit  is  bringing  a  truth 
of  the  highest  importance  before  us, 
repeating  for  the  sake  of  emphasis, 
compelling  even  the  careless  reader  to 
give  heed  as  to  some  vital  teaching. 

What  that  teaching  is,  in  this  case, 
it  is  our  present  purpose  to  inquire, 
and,  in  the  light  of  the  Scripture  itself, 
to  answer. 

First  of  all,  we  should  carefully  set- 
tle what  this  phrase,  in  Christ,  or  in 
Christ  Jesus,  means. 

If  there  be  one  truth  of  the  Gospel 
that  is  fundamental,  and  underlies  all 
else,  it  is  this :  A  new  life  in  Christ 


ITntroDuctoris  xi 

Jesus.  He,  Himself,  clearly  and  forci- 
bly expressed  it  in  John  xv  :  4:  * '  Abide 
in  Me  and  I  in  you."  By  a  matchless 
parable  our  I^ord  there  taught  us  that 
all  believers  are  branches  of  the  Living 
Vine,  and  that,  apart  from  Him,  we  are 
nothing  and  can  do  nothing,  because 
we  have  in  us  no  life.  This  truth 
finds  expression  in  many  ways  in  the 
Holy  Scripture,  but  most  frequently 
in  that  short  and  simple  phrase  we  are 
now  considering — in  Christ  Jesus. 

Such  a  phrase  suggests  that  He  is  to 
the  believer  thk  sphkrK  of  this 
NKW  LIFE)  OR  BFiNG.  Let  US  obscrvc — 
a  sphere  rather  than  a  circle.  A  circle 
surrounds  us,  but  only  on  one  plane  ; 
but  a  sphere  encompasses,  envelopes 
us,  surrounding  us  in  every  direction 
and  on  every  plane.  If  you  draw  a 
circle  on  the  floor,  and  step  within  its 
circumference,  you  are  within  it  only 
on  the  level  of  the  floor.  But,  if  that 
circle  could  become  a  sphere,  and  you 


xii  iTn  Cbrfet  5e0us 

be  within  it,  it  would  on  every  side 
surround  you — above  and  below,  be- 
fore and  behind,  on  the  right  hand 
and  on  the  left.  Moreover,  the  sphere 
that  surrounds  you  also  separates  you 
from  whatever  is  outside  of  it.  Again, 
in  proportion  as  such  a  sphere  is  strong 
it  also  proteSls  whatever  is  within  it 
from  all  that  is  without — from  all  ex- 
ternal foes  or  perils.  And  yet  again,  it 
supplies y  to  whomsoever  is  within  it, 
whatever  it  contains.  This  may  help 
us  to  understand  the  great  truth  taught 
with  such  clearness,  especially  in  the 
New  Testament.  Christ  is  there  pre- 
sented throughout  as  the  sphere  of  the 
believer's  whole  life  and  being,  and  in 
this  truth  are  included  these  condi- 
tions: 

First,  Christ  Jesus  surrounds  or  em- 
braces the  believer,  in  His  own  life; 
second,  He  separates  the  believer  in 
Himself  from  all  hostile  influences; 
third,  He  protecfts  him  in  Himself  from 


ITntroOuctotis  xiii 

all  perils  and  foes  of  his  life  ;  fourth, 
He  provides  and  supplies  in  Himself 
all  that  is  needful. 

We  shall  see  a  further  evidence  of 
the  vital  importance  of  the  phrase,  in 
Christ,  in  the  fact  that  these  two  words 
unlock  and  interpret  every  separate 
book  in  the  New  Testament.  Here  is 
God's  own  key,  whereby  we  may 
open  all  the  various  doors  and  enter 
all  the  glorious  rooms  in  this  Palace 
Beautiful,  and  explore  all  the  apart- 
ments in  the  house  of  the  heavenly 
Interpreter,  from  Matthew  to  the 
Apocalypse,  where  the  door  is  opened 
into  heaven.  Each  of  the  four  Gospel 
narratives,  the  book  of  the  Acfts,  all 
of  the  Epistles  of  Paul  and  Peter, 
James  and  John,  and  Jude,  with  the 
mysterious  Revelation  of  Jesus  Christ, 
show  us  some  new  relation  sustained 
by  Christ  Jesus  to  the  believer,  some 
new  aspedl  of  Christ  as  his  sphere  of 
being,  some   new  benefit  or  blessing 


irn  Cbrist  ^cswe 


enjoyed  by  him  who  is  thus  in  Christ 
Jesus. 

To  demonstrate  and  illustrate  this  is 
the  aim  of  this  study  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament. And,  for  brevity's  sake,  it 
may  be  well  to  confine  our  examina- 
tion to  the  Epistles  of  Paul,  from 
Romans  to  Thessalonians,  which  will 
be  seen  to  bear  to  each  other,  and  to 
the  phrase  we  are  studying,  a  unique 
and  complete  relation.  We  shall  trace 
this  phrase  in  ever}^  one  of  these  epist- 
les, and  find  it  sometimes  recurring  with 
marked  frequency  and  variety,  gener- 
ally very  close  to  the  very  beginning 
of  each  epistle;  and  usually  we  shall 
find  also  that  the  first  occurrence  of 
the  phrase,  in  each  epistle,  determines 
its  particular  relation  to  that  particular 
book,  thus  giving  us  a  key  to  the 
special  phase  of  the  general  subje(5l 
presented  in  that  epistle.  The  more  we 
study  the  phrase  and  the  various  in- 
stances and  peculiar  varieties  of  such 


f  ntro5uctoin2  xv 

recurrence,  the  more  shall  we  be  con- 
vinced of  its  vital  importance  to  all 
pradtical  holy  living. 

In  tracing  the  uses  and  bearings  of 
this  significant  phrase,  it  will  serv^e  the 
purpose  we  have  in  view  to  regard  the 
epistles  to  each  of  the  various  churches 
as  one^  even  when  there  are  two. 
This  will  give  us  seven  instances  of  the 
application  of  the  phrase,  which  will 
be  found  to  be  similar  in  the  two  Epis- 
tles to  the  Corinthians  and  the  two  ad- 
dressed to  the  Thessalonians.  We 
may  for  our  purpose,  therefore,  regard 
both  epistles  in  each  of  these  cases  as 
parts  of  one  ;  and  we  shall,  therefore, 
have  before  us  this  simple  study:  to 
examine  the  particular  application  of 
this  expression,  in  Christ,  or  in  Christ 
Jesus,  as  used  by  Paul  in  writing  to 
the  Romans,  the  Corinthians,  the  Gala- 
tians,  the  Ephesians,  the  Philippians, 
the  Colossians,  and  the  Thessalonians. 


IN  CHRIST  JESUS 


THK  KPISTLE^  TO  THE^  ROMANS 

AT  the  very  opening  of  this  letter 
(i:5),  we  read  these  words: 
"By  whom,"  or  "through  whom," 
we  have  received  grace,  etc.,  /.  ^., 
through  God's  Son,  Jesus  Christ,  our 
Lord  ;  and,  in  chapter  iii :  24,  "  Being 
justified  freely  by  His  grace  through 
the  Redemption  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus y 
Here  then  we  have  the  key  to  the  Epistle 
to  the  Romans :  Grace,  Justification ,  Re- 
de^nption,  in  and  through  Christ  Jesus  ; 
or,  to  put  it  briefly,  Justified  in  Christ. 
This  is  manifestly  the  first  step,  for 
this  conception  belongs  first  in  order. 
We  can  have,  in  Christ  Jesus,  nothing 
else,  unless  and  until  we  have  first  justi- 
fication— a  new  standing  before  God, 

17 


18  irn  Cbrlst  5e0U0 

Paul  is  inspired  to  begin  this  epistle 
by  shewing  that  all  men,  Jews  and 
Gentiles  alike,  are  included  under  sin 
and  therefore  involved  in  condemna- 
tion. No  sinner  has  before  him  any 
prospedl  but  divine  wrath,  until  he  is 
first  freed  from  the  law,  no  longer  under 
condemnation .  Hence  the  first  unfold- 
ing of  grace  in  the  Epistles  is  the  plain 
revelation  of  God's  marvelous  plan, 
whereby  sinners  get  the  standing  of 
saints.  The  question,  how  the  con- 
demned may  become  j ustified ;  the  lost, 
saved;  the  alienated,  reconciled  ;  this 
is  the  question  first  and  fully  answered 
in  this  epistle. 

If  we  examine  chapter  v  :  i-i  i ,  we 
shall  eight  times  meet  the  phrase, 
through,  by,  or  in  Jesus  Christ;  or  its 
equivalent.  And  here  are  represented, 
as  bestowed  upon  us  freely,  in  or 
through  Him,  justification,  peace  with 
God,  access  by  faith,  a  gracious  stand- 
ing, rejoicing  in  hope  of  the  glory  of 


"Romans  19 


God;  and,  even  in  the  experience  of 
tribulation,  the  love  of  God  shed 
abroad  in  the  heart,  salvation  from 
wrath,  reconciliation,  safekeeping  in 
His  life,  perpetual  joy  in  God,  etc.* 

Blessed  indeed  to  meet,  as  we  begin 
our  stud}^  of  the  epistles  of  the  New 
Testament,  this  first  application  of  the 
phrase,  in  Jesus  Christ:  Christ  is  the 
sphere  of  our  justiJicatio7i,  with  all  that 
this  involves  :  reconciliation,  redemp- 
tion, eternal  life,  safekeeping.  In 
Him  the  sinner  at  once  becomes,  in 
God's  sight,  a  saint,  admittted  to  a  new 
standing,  not  on  the  platform  of  law, 
but  of  grace.  Outside  of  Christ,  is 
alienation  ;  inside  this  sphere,  recon- 
ciliation; without,  death;  within,  life  ; 
without,  enmity  ;  within,  peace.  By 
faith  we  are  taken  into  Christ,  made  at 
once  safe  from  holy  wrath  against  sin, 

*Dr.  Handley  C.  G.  Moule,  of  Cambridge,  England, 
in  his  matchless  commentary  on  Romans,  thus  trans- 
lates verses  lo  and  ii  :  "  Much  more,  being  recon-i 
ciled,we  shall  be  kept  safe  in  His  life  ;  and,  not  only 
so,  but  we  shall  be  kept  always  rejoicing  in  God." 


20  iTn  Cbrf0t  Jesue 

and  kept  safe  from  all  perils  and  pen- 
alties. He,  our  divine  Redeemer,  be- 
comes to  us  the  new  sphere  of  harmony 
and  unity  with  God  and  His  I^aw, 
with  His  life  and  His  holiness. 

As  already  intimated,  each  epistle 
has  its  own  definite  limits  of  application 
for  the  phrase,  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  the 
divine  truth  which  it  conveys  ;  and  in 
each  the  range  of  thought  is  limited,  in 
the  main,  by  certain  typical  and  rep- 
resentative events  in  the  history  and 
career  of  the  God-man.  In  this  epistle, 
it  is  to  the  death,  burial,  and  resur- 
rection of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that 
the  thoughts  of  the  reader  are  preemi- 
nently diredled,  because  these  events 
belong  together  as  forming  the  very 
foundation  of  our  justification.  Com- 
pare chapter  iv  :  25  :  "  Who  was  de- 
livered for  our  offenses  and  raised 
again  for  our  justification."  Here  it 
is  made  unmistakably  plain  that  the 
death  and  resurredlion  of  Christ,  to- 


IRomans  21 


gether  with  the  burial  which  lay  be- 
tween, accomplished  the  work  of  our 
justification.  Death  was  the  deliver- 
ing over  of  our  vicarious  substitute 
and  surety  to  the  penalty  of  a  broken 
law  ;  burial  was  his  committal  to  the 
grave,  as  dead  ;  and  resurredlion  was 
the  deliverance  from  both  death  and 
Hades,  as  the  divine  sign  and  seal  of 
His  acceptance  as  our  substitute  and 
surety  and  of  His  vicarious  atonement 
in  our  behalf. 

We  have  heard  of  a  Russian  officer 
whose  accounts  could  not  be  made  to 
balance,  and  who  feared  that  the  merci- 
less despotism  of  the  empire  would 
allow  no  room  for  leniency  in  dealing 
with  him.  While  hopelessly  poring 
over  his  ' '  balance  sheet ' '  and  in 
despair  of  ever  making  up  his  defi- 
ciency, it  is  said  that  he  wrote,  half 
inadvertently,  on  the  paper  before  him: 
"Who  can  make  good  this  deficit?" 
and  fell  asleep  at  his  table.     The  czar 


22  ifn  Cbrfat  5c0U6 

passed,  saw  the  sleeping  officer,  glanced 
curiously  at  the  paper,  and  taking  up 
the  pen,  wrote  underneath:  "I,  even 
I,  Alexander."  The  story  may  be  a 
fidlion,  but  it  illustrates  a  far  higher 
debt  that  is  forever  canceled.  Does 
the  hopeless  sinner  confront  his  awful 
bankruptcy  and  ask  in  depair,  What 
can  pay  this  my  debt  to  a  broken  law  ? 
There  is  One  who  died  and  rose  again, 
who  from  the  cross  of  Calvary,  the 
tomb  in  the  garden,  and  the  throne  in 
heaven,  answers,  "I,  even  I,  the  I^ord 
Jesus. ' ' 

Let  us  then  fix  in  our  minds  that 
the  special  horizon  of  this  epistle  is 
bounded  by  Christ's  justifying  work, 
and  includes  within  its  scope  these  three 
prominent  facts:  He  died.  He  was  bur- 
ied. He  rose  again.  All  the  great  les- 
sons here  taught  center  about  the  cross 
and  the  sepulchre.  Christ  was  the 
second  and  last  Adam;  the  representa- 
tive of  the  race;  and  so,  judicially,  he 


IRomans  23 


stands  for  the  believer.  In  His  death, 
the  believing  sinner  is  reckoned  as 
having  died  for  sin,  and  unto  sin;  in 
His  burial,  as  having  gone  down  into 
the  grave,  the  place  of  death,  decay, 
and  corruption,  there  to  leave  as  cruci- 
fied, dead  and  buried,  "  the  old  man," 
the  old  nature,  and  the  old  life  of  sin, 
now  forever  '  *  put  off ' '  in  Christ,  * '  the 
time  past  of  our  life  sufficing  to  have 
wrought  our  own  will;"  and,  in  Christ's 
resurredlion,  the  believer  is  counted 
by  God  as  having  come  forth,  ' '  having 
put  on  the  new  man,  which  after  God 
is  created  in  righteousness  and  true 
holiness,"  endowed  with  a  new  Spirit 
of  Life,  henceforth  to  * '  walk  in  new- 
ness of  life. ' ' 

Hence  it  is  that  in  chapter  v.  Christ 
Jesus  is  set  forth  before  us  as  the  last 
Adam.  The  first  Adam  was  the  or- 
ganic, ancestral,  federal  head  of  the 
race  ;  his  a(5ls  were  representative  adls, 
and,  when  he  fell,  the  race  which  he 


24  irn  Gbrist  5e6U0 

represented  fell  in  him — a  truth  which, 
when  removed  from  the  realm  of  mere 
polemic,  controversial  theology,  is  not 
difficult  of  apprehension  ;  for  it  is  plain 
that  Adam  could  transmit  to  posterity 
no  better  nature  or  estate  than  he  pos- 
sessed. We,  therefore,  inherit  his 
moral  corruption  and  bankruptcy.  In 
order  to  redeem  the  fallen  race,  God 
gave  man  a  new  Adam,  another  repre- 
sentative, the  lyord  Jesus  Christ,  all 
whose  a(fts  in  behalf  of  man  are, 
therefore,  representative,  not  for  Him- 
self only,  but  for  us  for  whom  He 
stands  in  God's  sight.  Consequently, 
so  far  as  we  are,  by  faith  in  Him  and 
by  the  new  birth  from  above,  identified 
with  Him — as  with  Adam  by  sin  and 
birth  from  beneath — Christ's  acts  become 
our  0W71.  This  conception  of  repre- 
sentation threads  the  entire  Bible,  and 
is  so  important  that  it  belongs  among 
the  fundamental  truths  of  redemption. 
Only  in  the  light  of  it  can  redemption 


IRomans  25 


be  understood ;  but  both  condemna- 
tion and  justification  become  divinely 
luminous  in  the  light  which  it  throws 
upon  these  two  opposite  positions  of 
man  before  God. 

We  may  take  an  illustration  from  a 
lower  sphere.  Here  is  a  man  whose 
father's  bankruptcy  bankrupts  the 
whole  family,  so  that  he  with  the  others 
is  overwhelmed  in  the  general  wreck 
of  the  family  fortunes.  There  is,  how- 
ever, another  party,  it  may  be  an 
uncle,  or  a  grandparent,  who,  in  this 
crisis,  assumes  all  the  liabilities,  pays 
all  debts,  and  thus  redeems  the  family 
name  and  credit.  Now,  is  it  not  plain, 
without  argument,  that,  so  far  as  this 
son  is  identified  with  his  bankrupt 
father,  he  is  himself  financially  ruined; 
but  that,  so  far  as  he  is  identified  with 
the  party  who  pays  the  debts,  he  is,  in 
the  sight  of  the  law,  delivered  from 
bankruptcy  and  financially  justified  ? 

This  lesson  finds  typical  illustration 


26  Hn  Cbrist^esus 

in  the  story  of  Ruth.  So  far  as  this 
Moabitish  woman,  as  the  widow  of 
Mahlon,  was  identified  with  her  first 
husband,  she  was  involved  in  his  losses 
and  liabilities ;  but,  when  she  became 
the  wife  of  Boaz,  the  redeemer  of  her 
estate  and  the  lord  of  the  harvest,  she 
and  her  inheritance  were  redeemed, 
and  she  became  the  sharer  of  his 
wealth  and  social  standing.  All  illus- 
trations fail  in  divine  things  ;  but  we 
may  get  a  glimpse,  from  some  such 
point  of  view,  of  the  philosophy  of 
the  plan  of  salvation.  In  Christ,  we, 
who  in  Adam  were  condemned  and 
alienated,  are  justified  and  reconciled. 
The  believer's  vital  union  with 
Christ  Jesus  is  set  forth,  with  great 
clearness  of  statement,  in  chapter 
vi :  4-1 1,  where  his  identification  with 
the  Lord  Jesus  in  His  death,  burial, 
and  resurredlion  is  so  plainly  declared, 
and  its  practical  bearings  are  shown. 
Compare  II.  Corintians  xiii :  4.    '*  For 


IRomans  27 


tho  He  was  crucified  through  weak- 
ness, yet  He  liveth  by  the  power  of 
God.  For  we  also  are  weak  in  Him, 
but  we  shall  live  with  Him  by  the 
power  of  God  toward  you. ' ' 

In  this  sixth  chapter  of  Romans 
seven  significant  statements  are  notice- 
able, and  upon  them  the  whole  argu- 
ment hangs  and  turns: 

1 .  Christ  was  raised  from  the  dead 
by  the  glory  of  the  Father  ;  that  is, 
He  was  divinely  quickened  or  made 
alive,  so  that  His  resurredlion  was  a 
miracle. 

2.  We,  as  believers,  are  planted 
together  with  Him  in  the  likeness  of 
His  resurre(5lion  ;  that  is,  we  share  in 
the  very  power  of  God  which  raised 
Him  from  the  dead. 

3.  Our  old  man  is  crucified  with 
Him  ;  that  is,  the  former  sinful  nature 
is  judicially  regarded  as  crucified, 
dead,  buried,  and  left  in  the  tomb  of 
Christ. 


ITn  CbtiBt  5esus 


4.  That  the  body  of  sin  might  be 
destroyed,  that  henceforth  we  should 
not  serve  sin  ;  that  is,  the  power  of  sin 
as  our  master  is  pracftically  broken, 
and  we  are  released. 

5.  We  believe  that  we  shall  also  live 
with  him.  Surely,  we  are  not  to  refer 
this  only  to  our  final  resurredlion;  from 
I/is  resurrecftion,  onward,  forevermore, 
our  life  is  one  with  His. 

6.  Death  hath  no  more  dominion 
over  Him,  and  so  we  in  Him  are  de- 
livered from  all  that  dominion  of  sin 
which  is  implied  in  death  as  its  judicial 
penalty.     Compare  verse  14. 

7.  In  that  He  liveth.  He  liveth 
unto  God  ;  and  to  us  also  God  is  to  be 
the  source,  channel,  and  goal  of  our 
new  life,  and  so  we  are  to  manifest  our 
unity  with  Him. 

This  teaching  is  so  wonderful  that  it 
would  be  incredible  were  it  not  found 
in  the  inspired  Scripture,  and  thus 
sealed  with  the  authority  of  the  Divine 


1Roman0  29 


Teacher.  It  is  manifestly  a  revelation 
from  God,  for  it  never  would  have 
entered  into  the  heart  of  any  mere 
man,  untaught  of  God,  to  conceive  it. 

This  reminds  one  of  a  most  forcible 
utterance  of  Sir  Monier  Williams,  Pro- 
fessor of  Sanskrit  in  Oxford  Univer- 
sity, and,  perhaps,  the  greatest  living 
authority  on  all  questions  affedling  the 
literature  and  faiths  of  the  Orient.  At 
an  anniversary  of  the  Church  Mission- 
ary Society  in  I^ondon,  some  ten  years 
ago,  he  delivered  a  most  remarkable 
address,  in  which  he  said  that,  when 
he  began  investigating  Hinduism  and 
Buddhism,  he  began  to  believe  in  what 
is  called  the  evolution  and  growth  of 
religious  thought.  But  he  adds,  and 
we  give  his  own  memorable  words: 

' '  I  am  glad  of  the  opportunity  of 
stating  publicly,  that  I  am  persuaded  I 
was  misled  by  the  attra(5liveness  of 
such  a  theory,  and  that  its  main  idea 
was  erroneous.  .  .  .  And  now  I  crave 
permission  at  least  to  give  two  good 


30  ITn  Cbr!0t  5e6us 

reasons  for  venturing  to  contravene  the 
favorite  philosophy  of  the  day.  I,isten 
to  me,  ye  youthful  students  of  the  so- 
called  sacred  books  of  the  East:  search 
them  through  and  through,  and  tell 
me,  do  they  affirm  of  Vyasa,  of  Zoro- 
aster, of  Confucius,  of  Buddha,  of  Mo- 
hammed, what  our  Bible  affirms  of  the 
founder  of  Christianity, — that  He,  a 
sinless  man,  was  made  sin  ?  Not  merely 
that  He  is  the  eradication  of  sin,  but 
that  He,  the  sinless  son  of  man,  was 
himself  made  sin.  Vyasa  and  the  other 
founders  of  Hinduism,  enjoined  severe 
penances,  endless  lustral  washings,  in- 
cessant purifications,  infinite  repetitions 
of  prayer,  painful  pilgrimages,  arduous 
ritual,  and  sacrificial  observances,  all 
with  the  one  idea  oi getting  rid  of  sin. 
All  their  books  say  so.  But  do  they 
say  that  the  very  men  who  exhausted 
every  invention  for  the  eradication  of 
sin  were  themselves  sinless  men  made 
sin  f  .  .  .  This  proposition  put  forth  in 
our  Bible  stands  alone ;  it  is  wholly 
unparalleled  ;  it  is  not  to  be  matched 
by  the  shade  of  a  shadow  of  a  similar 
declaration  in  any  other  book  claiming 


IRomans  31 


to  be  the  exponent  of  the  docflrine  of 
any  other  religion  in  the  world. 

''Once  again,  do  these  sacred  books 
of  the  Bast  affirm  of  Vyasa,  of  Zoroaster, 
of  Confucius,  of  Buddha,  of  Moham- 
med, what  our  Bible  affirms  of  the 
founder  of  Christianity,  that  He,  a  dead 
and  buried  man^  was  made  life  ?  Not 
merely  that  He  is  the  giver  of  life, 
but  that  He,  the  dead  and  buried  man, 
is  life.  .  .  .  All  I  contend  for  is,  that 
such  a  statement  is  absolutely  unique; 
and  I  defy  you  to  produce  the  shade  of 
a  shadow  of  a  similar  declaration  in  any 
other  sacred  book  of  the  world.  And 
bear  in  mind  that  these  two  matchless, 
unparalleled  declarations  are  closely, 
intimately,  indissolubly  connecfted  with 
the  great  central  fadls  and  doc5lrines  of 
our  religion  :  the  incarnation,  the  cru- 
cifixion, the  resurredtion,  the  ascen- 
sion of  Christ. 

* '  The  two  unparalleled  declarations 
quoted  by  me  from  our  Holy  Bible 
make  a  gulf  between  it  and  the  so-called 
sacred  books  of  the  Bast,  which  severs 
the  one  from  the  others  utterly,  hope- 
lessly, and  forever;  not  a  mere  rift  which 


ITn  Cbrfst  Jeene 


may  be  easily  closed  up,  but  a  veritable 
gulf  which  can  not  be  bridged  over  by 
any  science  of  religious  thought;  yes, 
a  bridgeless  chasm  which  no  theory  of 
evolution  can  ever  span." 

Prof.  Max  Miiller,  in  addressing  the 
British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  de- 
clared, in  a  similar  strain,  that  ' '  the 
one  key-note  of  all  these  so-called  sacred 
books  is  Salvation  by  works.  Our  own 
Holy  Bible  is  from  the  beginning  to 
the  end  a  protest  against  this  dodlrine. ' ' 

What  Sir  Monier  Williams  and  Prof. 
Miiller  thus  affirm  of  the  Word  of  God, 
as  to  its  unique  and  wholly  unparal- 
leled teaching,  we  may  find  illustrated 
especially  in  this  epistle.  Here,  if  any- 
where, we  have  the  Sinless  One  made 
sin  for  sinners,  and  the  Dead  One  raised 
from  the  dead  to  become  life  to  believ- 
ers ;  and  here,  if  any-where,  we  have 
salvation  by  faith  put  in  most  vivid 
contrast  with  salvation  by  works. 

We  can  not  leave  this  thought  with- 


TRomans 


out  at  least  hinting  at  its  apologetic 
and  evidential  value.  The  question 
can  not  but  arise:  Where  did  the  writers 
of  this  Bible  get  conceptions  so  original 
and  unique  ?  The  world  of  mankind 
was  forty  centuries  old  when  the  New 
Testament  began  to  be  construcfled, 
when  the  earliest  books  first  appeared 
in  the  primitive  Church.  At  least  five 
great  world  kingdoms  had  in  their 
way  carried  civilization  to  remarkable 
heights  of  development :  the  Egyptian, 
Assyrian-Babylonian,  Persian,  Greek, 
and  Roman.  Progress  had  not  been 
along  the  lines  of  commerce,  martial 
prowess,  material  grandeur,  and  im- 
perial splendor,  alone,  but  philosophy 
had  won  some  of  its  proudest  triumphs. 
The  race  had  done  much  of  its  subtlest 
and  most  original  thinking  before  the 
Nazarene  began  his  career  of  teaching. 
Now,  how  can  it  be  accounted  for  that 
a  few  humble  fishermen  of  Judea,  or 
even  a  trained   Hebrew  scholar  who 


34  ifn  dbrfst  5e6us 

had  the  advantage  of  Roman  citizenship 
and  Greek  culture,  should  have  given 
to  mankind  absolutely  new  ideas,  and 
those,  too,  on  the  most  vital  themes? 
How  came  it  that  such  new  and  mar- 
velous conceptions  are  found  in  the 
Word  of  God,  and  nowhere  else  f 

There  is  but  one  explanation  :  The 
world  was  visited  by  the  Son  of  God. 
He  told  of  heavenly  things.  He  re- 
vealed the  mind  of  God  on  subjedls 
hitherto  unveiled.  What  He  had 
heard  in  a  celestial  school  —  the  Uni- 
versity of  God  —  what  no  scholar  or 
philosopher  of  earth  had  even  imagined 
— He  testified,  and  some  received  His 
testimony  and  set  to  their  seal,  experi- 
mentally, that  God  is  true.  And  so  it 
comes  to  pass  that  the  Bible  —  because 
it  is  what  it  claims  to  be,  God's  Word, 
conveying  God's  thought  —  gives  us 
absolutely  new  ideas  of  the  way  of 
salvation,  of  the  sinless  sin  bearer,  of 
the  Risen  I^ord  of  lyife  ;  and  announces 


IRomattd 


the  simple  terms  whereby  He  becomes 
to  the  believer,  the  sphere  of  a  new  life 
— his  Justifier,  Reconciler,  Savior. 

I>t  us  tarry  at  the  threshold  of  our 
study  of  this  theme,  to  praise  Him 
who  in  the  Gospel  of  Christ  has 
brought  to  light,  life,  and  immortal- 
ity; who  has  made  the  cross  of  Calvary 
a  tree  of  life,  and  the  sepulchre  in  the 
garden  a  doorway  of  life,  and  the  faith 
of  a  little  child  the  condition  of  life,  to 
every  penitent  and  believing  sinner. 
Toplady  says  : 

* '  When  Christ  entered  into  Jerusa- 
lem the  people  spread  garments  in  the 
way:  when  He  enters  into  our  hearts, 
we  pull  off  our  own  righteousness,  and 
not  only  lay  it  under  Christ's  feet  but 
even  trample  upon  it  ourselves." 

Let  a  quotation  from  another  writer, 
referring  to  Isaiah  Hii :  5,  enforce  this 
same  lesson: 

'  *  Let  every  poor  sinner,  and  let 
every  preacher  to  sirmoxs  put  this  great 


36  IFu  Cbdst  3e0U5 

truth  where  God  puts  it,  in  the  very- 
center  and  midst,  as  the  most  vital 
and  important  of  all  truths.  How 
simple  this  verse  which  expresses  it  ! 
It  states  FACTS,  fa(5ts  to  which  the 
prophet  looked  wonderingly  forward, 
facets  on  which  we  look  gratefully 
backward.  He,  the  mighty  and  the 
holy  One,  He  was  wounded,  bruised, 
chastised  !  He  was  treated  thus,  not 
because //<?  deserved  it,  but  for  oursakes, 
because  we  deserved  it.  His  punish- 
ment is  our  peace.  His  stripes  are  our 
healing.  His  death  our  life.  O  great- 
est of  all  facts!  well  mayest  Thou 
have  the  central  place  in  prophecy,  the 
central  place  in  our  hearts !  This  is  the 
Gospel.  To  believe  this  is  to  be  saved; 
He  has  borne  the  stripes  and  pun- 
ishment due  to  each  believer,  who  will, 
therefore,  have  none  to  bear.  To  be- 
lieve this  is  to  be  happy,  for  it  is  to  see 
a  substitute  in  our  place  of  doom  and 
death,  setting  us  free!  To  believe  this 
is  to  be  holy,  for  faith  in  such  fa6ls  must 
make  us  love  the  One  that  suffered  in 
our  stead,  and  hate  the  sin  that  brought 
sore  stripes  on  Him.     Brother,  canst 


IRomans  37 


thou  make  it  singular,  and  say,  '  He 
was  wounded  for  my  transgressions; 
He  was  bruised  for  my  iniquities;  the 
chastisement  of  my  peace  was  upon 
Him,  and  with  His  stripes  I  am 
healed?'" 

The  2oth  of  January,  1896,  marked 
the  centenary  of  John  Howard,  the 
philanthropist,  who  went  on  his  famous 
*' circumnavigation  of  charity  "  to  let 
light  into  the  dungeons  of  the  world's 
prisons.  His  was  a  life  of  singular 
self-sacrifice  for  others.  Beginning 
amid  the  cottages  of  Cardington,  and 
undertaking  reforms  among  his  own 
tenantry,  his  work  grew  wider  until 
from  the  jails  and  prisons  of  Britain  it 
embraced  the  cells  of  the  imprisoned 
everywhere.  In  Bedford  jail,  where 
Bunyan  had  spent  twelve  years  a  cen- 
tury before,  Howard  found  men  and 
women,  who  were  felons,  living  in  a 
common  day-room,  their  night-rooms 
being  two  dungeons  * '  down  steps. ' ' 


88  irn  Cbcist  5esu6 

There  was  only  a  single  courtyard  for 
debtors  and  criminals,  there  was  no 
apartment  for  the  jailer,  and  the  sani- 
tary conditions  bred  fatal  jail  fever, 
which  proved  destrudtive  also  outside 
prison  walls.  Howard's  whole  soul 
was  so  moved  that  he  '  *  emptied  him- 
self ' '  of  all  that  mortals  prize,  to  go  on 
his  wide  mission  of  love,  and  become  a 
servant  of  servants  to  the  lowest  and 
vilest  classes. 

The  inscription  on  his  monument  is 
eloquently  suggestive : 

Vixit  propter  alios  salvos  fecit. 

This  was,  indeed,  the  vidlory  where- 
by he  overcame.  He  lived  for  others, 
and  he  gave  his  life  for  their  uplifting 
and  salvation.  He  was  so  indifferent  to 
fame  that  he  forbade  a  projedl  to  build 
him  a  memorial.  And,  as  Dean  Mil- 
man  says,  ' '  the  first  statue  admitted 
to  St.  Paul's  was  not  that  of  a  states- 
man, warrior,  or  even  of  a  sovereign  ; 


IRomans 


it  was  that  of  John  Howard,  the  pil- 
grim, not  to  gorgeous  shrines  of  saints 
and  martyrs,  not  even  to  holy  lands, 
but  to  the  loathsome  depths  of  dark- 
ness of  the  prisons  of  what  called 
itself  the  civilized  world. ' ' 

Let  us  not  forget  where  Howard 
learned  his  life  lesson  of  philanthropy  : 
it  was  from  One  of  whom  it  was  said, 
in  taunt  sublimely  true: 

"  He  saved  others, 
Himself  He  can  not  save." 

The  Son  of  God  and  Son  of  man 
gave  Himself  a  ransom  for  many.  It 
was  by  His  death,  burial,  and  resur- 
redlion  that  He  made  possible  a  sphere 
of  life  for  you  and  me.  Life  for  us  was 
purchased  by  death  for  Him.  And 
this  first  of  New  Testament  epistles  is 
the  revelation  of  the  first  conditions  of 
our  salvation.  His  cross  abolished 
our  judgment ;  His  burial  abolished 
for  us  the  fear  of  death  and  the  grave ; 
and  his  resurreAion  became  to  us  alike 


40  ITn  Cbrist  Jesus 

the  hope  and  the  pledge  of  life,  both 
for  soul  and  body. 

It  is  plain  that  to  be  in  Christ  Justi- 
fied, is  far  more  than  Pardon  or  even 
Reconciliation ;  it  includes  being 
counted  as  just^  and  put  upon  the  same 
standing  as  Christy  before  God. 


Summary  of   Teaching  in  Epistle 
TO  THE  Romans. 


«JV« 


>Nrath. 


C^^ISj^ 


IN  CHRIST 
JUSTIFIED. 

Christ,  the  Sphere  of 

Justification,  Reconciliation, 

Eternal,  I^ife,  Peace  with  God, 

Safe  Keeping, 

Deliverance  from  the  I^aw  and  its 

Penalties. 

A  New  Standing  in  Grace. 

regeneration  by  the  Holy  Spirit; 

Harmony  with  God 

and  with 

Holiness. 


'«', 


•y^c 


9oeo 


<i  JamiaN 


Corfntbfans  43 


II 

THE    KPISTI.KS  TO   THK  CORINTHIANS 

In  the  First  Epistle,  the  first  chapter 
and  the  second  verse,  we  first  meet  the 
phrase  which  we  seek  :  * '  Sanctified 
IN  Christ  Jesus,"  and,  according  to 
the  rule  that  has  been  found  to  be  true, 
this  proves  upon  examination  to  fur- 
nish us  with  the  key-note  of  both  of 
these  epistles. 

This  thought  is  further  amplified  in 
the  thirtieth  verse  of  the  same  chapter, 
where,  as  from  an  exalted  mountain 
peak,  we  seem  to  scan  the  whole  horizon 
of  our  salvation  and  of  the  work  of 
Christ.  We  are  there  taught  that, 
being  ' '  in  Christ  Jesus, ' '  we  find  Him 
*'  made,  of  God,  unto  us  wisdom,  and 
righteousness,  and  sandlification,  and 
redemption."     But,  in  these  epistles, 


44  -ffn  Cbrf6t  5esu0 

sancflification  in  Christ  Jesus  is  as 
prominent  as  justification  in  Christ 
Jesus  has  been  found  to  be  in  the  Epis- 
tle to  the  Romans.  In  the  latter,  the 
death  of  Christ  was  made  most  promi- 
nent ;  here,  it  is  our  life  in  Him  and 
His  life  in  us.  There,  our  thoughts 
were  diredled  mainly  to  His  cross  and 
passion;  but  here,  it  is  to  His  Spirit, 
as  bestowed  upon  the  believer  and 
dwelling  in  him.  Or,  to  speak  more 
accurately  and  carefully,  the  thought 
of  the  Apostle  Paul  begins,  in  the 
Epistles  to  the  Corinthians,  where,  as 
we  might  say,  it  ends  in  the  Epistle 
to  the  Romans.  In  the  latter  epistle 
we  follow  Christ  through  His  death 
and  burial  to  His  resurredlion,  when 
He  comes  forth  from  the  grave  en- 
dowed with  the  Spirit  of  life.  But  the 
Epistles  to  the  Corinthians  start — may 
we  not  say  ? — from  His  inbreathing  of 
the  Spirit  into  His  disciples  on  the 
day  of  His  resurrec5lion  and  the  sub- 


Corintbfang  45 


sequent  induement  of  the  disciples 
with  the  Spirit  on  the  day  of  Pentecost. 

We  might  compare  the  two  epistles 
thus: 

Romans  :  Justified  in  Christ  Jesus  by 
His  blood. 

Corinthians:  Sanctified  in  Christ 
Jestis  by  His  Spirit. 

And,  through  both  of  the  Epistles  to 
the  Corinthians,  the  golden  thread  of 
connedlion  is  thus  our  union  with  Christ 
by  the  indwelling  and  inworking  of 
His  Holy  Spirit. 

In  First  Corinthians  (vi :  17)  is  the 
brief  but  grand  statement  which  illu- 
minates and  illustrates  both  of  these 
letters: 

*  *  He  that  is  JOINKD  to  THK  lyORD 

IS  one:  spirit." 

In  this  language  we  have  repre- 
sented the  highest  conceivable  unity. 
The  stones  of  the  building  may  be  re- 
moved; the  branch  may  be  cut  off  from 
the  vine,  and  the  limb  severed  from  the 


46  irn  Cbr(6t  5esu0 

body  ;  the  sheep  may  wander  from  the 
shepherd,  the  child  from  the  father  ;  the 
bride  may  be  divorced  from  the  bride- 
groom; but  you  can  not  divide  spirit 
asunder.  Therefore,  when  we  are  told 
that  * '  he  that  is  joined  to  the  Lord  is 
one  Spirit, ' '  we  have  the  highest  pos- 
sible representation  of  unity — a  unity 
which  nothing  can  dissolve. 

In  the  First  Epistle  to  the  Corin- 
thians this  unity  with  the  Lord  Jesus 
is  exhibited  as  involving  especially 
the  following  privileges  and  duties  : 

First.  A  new  knowledge  of  God,  or 
insight  into  Divine  things.  (Chap- 
ter ii. ) 

Second.  A  new  indwelling  of  God, 
we  becoming  His  temple  (iii :  i6),  and 
hence  a  new  possession  of  us  by  God. 

Third.  A  new  possession  in  God  as 
our  portion,     (iii :  21-23.) 

Fourth.  A  new  stewardship  in  God, 
with  corresponding   obligation,     (iv : 

1-2.) 


Corintbians  47 


Fifth.  A  new  separation  unto  God 
as  His  holy  abode,    (vi :  1 1-20.) 

Sixth.  A  new  sandlity  even  in  secu- 
lar toil,  as  a  calling  in  which  we  abide 
with  God.     (vii :  20-24. ) 

Seventh.  A  new  subje(5lion,  even  of 
the  body,  to  His  glory,     (ix  :  27.) 

Eighth.  A  new  communion  with 
God.     (x  :  16-17.) 

Ninth.  A  new  service  to  God,  made 
possible  by  communion  with  Him.  (xii. ) 

Tenth.  A  new  dominion  of  love  as 
the  controlling  power,     (xiii.) 

Eleventh.  A  new  holiness  and  deco- 
rum in  public  assemblies,     (xiv.) 

Twelfth.  A  new  victory  over  death 
and  the  grave,     (xv.) 

This  analysis  is  not,  of  course,  ex- 
haustive, but  it  serves,  so  far  as  we 
have  carried  it,  to  communicate  to  us 
how  truly  all  the  thoughts  of  these 
epistles  revolve  about  the  phrase  we 
are  considering,  and  the  thought  which 
it  embodies. 


48  iTn  Cbrfst  5e0U0 

To  resume:  Christ  is  here  represented 
as  the  sphere  of  san(5lification  and  per- 
sonal holiness.  Being  in  Him,  we  have 
in  Him  unity  with  God  by  the  Holy 
Spirit,  which  Spirit  becomes  the  new 
element  or  atjnosphere  of  that  life  of 
which  Christ  is  the  sphere.  We  have 
thus  a  new  knowledge  of  God  and  a 
new  indwelling  of  God  in  us;  we  thus 
possess  God  and  are  possessed  by  Him, 
separate  and  subje(5l  unto  Him,  so  that 
even  our  bodies  partake  of  His  life  and 
immortalit3\  As  Romans  deals  largely 
with  what  we  are  by  our  entrance  into 
God,  in  Corinthians  we  are  confronted 
with  what  we  are  by  God's  entrance 
into  us.  There,  it  was  the  new  sphere 
of  life;  here,  it  is  the  new  atmosphere 
of  life.  There,  we  in  Him;  here,  He 
in  us. 

In  Second  Corinthians,  the  same 
great  thought  is  further  expanded  and 
enlarged.  Take,  for  instance,  the  first 
chapter,   from   the   twentieth   to   the 


Corlntblans  49 


twenty-second  verses,  where  we  are 
taught  that  in  Him  we  are  established, 
anointed,  sealed,  and  have  the  earnest 
or  foretaste  of  our  future  inheritance. 
The  dominant  thought  here  is  the 
privilege  we  have  in  and  through 
Christ.  Paul  makes  very  emphatic 
and  prominent  our  transformation  into 
His  image  (iii  :  i8)  ;  our  new  crea- 
tion in  Christ  Jesus  (v  :  17)  ;  our 
separation  unto  Him  (vi :  14-vii  :  i); 
our  unselfish  liberality  as  the  fruit  of 
our  union  with  Him  (chapters  viii 
and  ix)  ;  our  abundance  of  revelation 
in  Him  (chapter  xii) ,  etc. 

Here,  again,  we  have  attempted  no 
exhaustive  analysis,  but  have  only 
sought  to  hint  at  the  contents  of  the 
epistle,  or  draw  the  outline  of  this 
wonderful  range  of  thought. 

In  these  two  epistles,  then,  we  have 
Christ  as  the  sphere  of  our  holiness, 
and  privilege  in  Him  ;  we  have  in  Him 
everything  else,  and  the  very  antici- 


50  irn  Cbrist  5e6U0 

pation  of  heaven  itself.  We  have 
conformity  to  His  likeness,  cleans- 
ing from  sin,  power  over  sin,  fellow- 
ship with  God,  and  revelations  of  the 
bUss  of  paradise,  even  while  upon 
earth. 

If,  in  these  two  epistles,  any  thought 
overtops  the  rest,  it  is  that  of  the  new 
creation  in  Christ  Jesus  (chapter 
v:  17),  where  the  word  "creature" 
should  undoubtedly  be  rendered 
' '  creation. ' '  Comp.  G^alatians  vi :  15. 
The  parallel  passage  is  in  Revelation 
xxi :  5,  where  God  says:  "  Behold,  I 
make  all  things  new. ' '  Here  that  is 
true  of  the  individual  which  is  there 
to  be  realized  of  the  whole  creation. 
We  enter  into  Christ  Jesus,  and  we 
have  in  Him  the  entrance  into  a  new 
world,  ourselves  becoming  a  part  of 
that  new  creation. 

A  careful  comparison  of  Second 
Corinthians  (vi :  17-vii :  i)  with  the 
twenty-first    chapter     of    Revelation 


Corlntbians  51 


(3~5)  will  show  how  closely  these  two 
passages  correspond. 

Here,  also,  we  see  how  and  why- 
Christ  becomes  to  us  the  sphere  of 
new  power  in  becoming  the  sphere  of 
new  life.  A  sphere  contains  an  at- 
mosphere, and  that  atmosphere  may 
be  quite  diilerent  from  that  which  is 
outside  ;  it  ma}^  have  different  quali- 
ties, and  be  capable  of  supporting  life 
in  a  far  higher  degree.  So,  what  we 
could  not  do,  outside  of  Christ,  becomes 
both  natural  and  possible  in  Him,  be- 
cause we  have  new  appetites,  desires, 
and  affinities.  The  old  passions,  habits, 
bondage,  are  displaced  by  a  new  life, 
capacity,  and  freedom. 

To  clearly  apprehend  all  this  won- 
derful truth  and  freely  enter  into  this 
privilege,  is  the  ideal  condition  of  a 
disciple.  The  idea  of  a  new  creation 
suggests  to  us  also  the  kindred  idea  of 
a  new  adaptation,  or  affinity  for  God,  on 
the  part  of  the  believer.     Every  form 


52  -ffn  Cbdst  5e0U0 

of  animal  existence,  and  even  of  vege- 
table existence,  demands  what  we  call 
its  appropriate  element;  that  is,  a 
sphere  of  life  with  conditions  which 
are  necessary  to  its  development,  and 
even  to  its  very  subsistence  and  ex- 
istence. We  call  the  air  the  element 
of  the  bird,  because  the  air  and  the 
bird  are  manifestly  made  for  each 
other.  We  call  the  water  the  element 
of  the  fish  for  the  same  reason  of 
mutual  adaptation.  The  bird  can  not 
live  in  the  water,  and  the  fish  can  not 
live  in  the  air.  We  observe  that  the 
bird  has  a  breathing  apparatus  adapted 
to  the  atmosphere,  and  the  fish  has  a 
breathing  apparatus  adapted  to  the 
water.  If  either  were  to  exchange 
places  with  the  other,  there  must  be 
corresponding  changes  in  its  physi- 
cal structure  and  adaptation;  the  bird, 
to  live  in  the  water,  must  have  gills 
instead  of  lungs,  and  the  fish  to  live 
in  the  air  must  have  lungs  instead  of 


Corintbfans  53 


gills.  So  the  bird's  wings  must  change 
to  fins  and  the  fish's  fins  must  change 
to  wings.  In  fadl,  there  would  have 
to  be  changes  in  the  whole  stru(5lure, 
which  it  would  be  possible  only  for  the 
Creator  to  effect.  How  wonderfiilly 
analogous  to  the  case  of  the  disciple! 
In  order  to  enter  into  Christ  Jesus  and 
to  exist  in  the  new  atmosphere  which 
we  find  in  this  new  sphere  of  life,  that 
atmosphere  must  become  our  element; 
and  there  must  be  changes,  which  cor- 
respond to  strucftural  changes,  which 
must  take  place  in  our  very  mental 
and  moral  constitution.  As  it  were, 
the  lungs  must  change  to  gills,  or  the 
gills  to  lungs.  This  is  what  we  call 
* '  the  new  birth,  or  regeneration. ' '  So 
far  as  we  are  concerned,  the  a<5l  by 
which  we  enter  into  Christ  is  the  a(5l 
of  repentance  and  faith,  repentance 
being  the  leaving  of  the  old  sphere  of 
life  behind  us,  and  faith  being  the  en- 
trance into  the  new  sphere.    But  there 


54  iTn  Cbrist  ^esua 

must  be  a  divine  adt,  corresponding  to 
our  human  a(5l — an  acfl  of  regeneration 
on  God's  part,  corresponding  to  the  ac5t 
of  appropriation  on  our  part ;  other- 
wise, even  if  it  were  possible  for  us  to 
enter  into  the  new  sphere,  we  should 
find  oui selves  unable  to  live  or  abide 
in  it.  This  is  the  mystery  of  the  new 
birth. 

If  any  man  be  in  Christ,  he  is  by 
necessity  a  new  creation.  He  must 
be  born  from  above,  born  again,  born 
of  the  Spirit,  enabled  to  breathe  the 
new  atmosphere  and  live  in  the  new 
element.  Whether  the  human  acft  or 
the  divine  a(5l  has  the  precedence,  we 
are  neither  concerned  to  inquire,  nor 
are  we  capable  to  determine.  There 
is  a  profound  mystery  about  the  whole 
subjedl  upon  which  the  Word  of  God 
sheds  no  decisive  light;  but  the  para- 
dox is  not  a  contradidlion,  nor  does 
the  mystery  involve  an  absurdity.  It 
is  sufficient  for  us  to  know  that  we 


Corintblans  55 


shall  never  enter  into  Christ  save  by  our 
own  consent,  and  to  know  with  equal 
certainty  that  we  shall  never  enter 
into  Christ  without  God's  new  creative 
adl. 

Here  we  must  leave  the  mystery, 
while  we  bless  God  for  the  privilege. 

It  will  be  seen  by  any  thoughtful 
student  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  how 
grand  and  important  is  the  truth  which 
thus  meets  us  in  these  two  Epistles  to 
the  Corintians.  The  indwelling  of 
God  in  Christ  is  the  full,  final,  and 
most  complete  argument  for,  and  ex- 
hibition of,  that  do(5lrine  of  separation, 
which  runs  from  Genesis  to  Revela- 
tion, throughout  the  entire  Scripture. 
We  may  say  that  there  are  at  least 
seven  stages  in  the  development  of  this 
doctrine: 

First.  Separation  by  covenant,  as 
when  Abraham  was  called  out  from 
his  country  and  his  kindred.  (See 
Genesis  xii :  1-7.) 


66  fn  Cbrfst  Jesus 

Second.  Separation  by  divine  fellow- 
ship,  so  exquisitely  presented  in  Ex- 
odus (xxxiii :  14-16).  Moses  repre- 
sents tliefa<5l  that  God's  presence  goes 
with  His  people  as  the  one  fadl  that 
separates  himself  and  the  people  from 
all  the  others  that  are  upon  the  face  of 
the  earth. 

Third.  Separation  by  ordinances. 
See  Leviticus  xx  :  24-26  where  three 
times  God  addresses  His  people  as  a 
separated  people,  and  makes  the  cere- 
monial distinc5lion  and  difference  be- 
tween clean  and  unclean  beasts,  fowls 
and  reptiles,  to  be  the  outward  sign  of 
this  separation. 

Fourth.  Separation  by  vow,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  Nazarite,  in  the  sixth 
chapter  of  Numbers,  where  four  con- 
ditions are  made  prominent  : 

( 1 )  The  suppression  of  appetite. 

(2)  Indifference  to  public  custom. 

(3)  Absolute  withdrawal  from  death 
or  corruption. 


Corfntbians  57 


(4)  Supreme  loyalty  to  God  over  all 
human  kindred. 

Fifth.  Separation  by  obedience  as 
presented  in  the  entire  book  of 
Deuteronomy.     (Compare  Chap,  vii.) 

Sixth.  Separation  by  wedlock  or 
espousal.  See  Jeremiah  iii :  14  :  *'  I 
am  married  unto  you."  Compare 
Kzekiel  xvi.  Compare  also  Bphesians 
V :  25-33,  where  this  doctrine  of  the 
divine  espousal  of  His  people  in  Christ 
is  expanded  and  applied. 

Seventh.  But,  when  we  come  to  the 
Epistles  of  the  Corinthians,  we  have 
the  last  and  greatest  of  all  the  modes 
of  separation  : 

The  indwelling  of  God  in  the  believer 
by  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  makes  man 
God's  habitation,  temple,  holy  of 
holies!  There  are  two  ways  in  which 
a  man  shows  himself  to  be  the  owner 
of  a  house:  First,  by  purchase;  second, 
by  occupation.  He  buys  the  dwelling, 
and  then  he  enters  into  it  and  lives  in 


58  iTn  Cbrlst  Jesus 

it.  And  these  are  the  two  ways  in 
which  God  is  represented  as  making 
the  believer  His  special  dwelling- 
place  :  First,  ye  are  bought  with  a 
price;  second,  the  Spirit  of  God  dwell- 
eth  in  you.  There  can  be  no  separa- 
tion more  unmistakable  than  this. 
We  have  been  purchased  by  redeeming 
blood  for  the  habitation  of  God  through 
the  Spirit^  a?id  throiigh  the  Spirit  God 
actually  does  indwell  i?i  every  true  be- 
liever. 

Such  indwelling  of  God  should  in- 
sure the  holiness  of  the  believer. 
Walter  Scott  wrote  of  a  certain  ac- 
quaintance: **I  can  not  tolerate  that 
man;  and  it  seems  to  me  as  if  I  hated 
him  for  things  not  only  past  and 
present,  but  for  some  future  offense 
which  is  as  yet  in  the  womb  of  fate. ' ' 
The  Holy  Ghost's  inhabitation  should 
leave  no  possibility  of  adlual  sinning 
nor  room  even  for  the  thought  of  sin. 
And  where  is  such  cleanness  of  soul 


Corfntbians 


to  come  from,  apart  from  Christ? 
*'By  no  political  alchemy,"  Herbert 
Spencer  tells  us,  ' '  can  you  get  golden 
condudl  out  of  leaden  instinAs. ' '  The 
power  to  set  the  heart  right,  to  renew 
the  springs  of  acflion,  comes  from  Christ 
through  the  Holy  Spirit. 

We  thus  reach  the  second  stage  of 
our  journey  through  these  paths  of 
God's  truth.  And  we  here  find  Jesus 
Christ  our  I^ord  presented  as  the 
sphere  of  the  believer's  holy  living — 
his  sandlification  as  well  as  justifica- 
tion, his  higher  salvation  from  sin  as 
well  as  from  sin's  penalty.  Salvation 
is  not  by  charadler,  but  it  is  not  inde- 
pendent of  charadler.  Heaven  is  not 
and  can  not  be  the  home  of  saved 
souls,  if  it  be  not  also  the  abode  of 
san(5lified  souls.  God  could  have 
nothing  less  than  a  clea7i  house  where 
He  lives.  Nothing  defiled  or  defiling 
can  enter  there  ;  and  He,  whom  the 
Epistle  to  the  Romans  shows  as  the 


W  ITn  Cbrist  5eau6 


secret  of  our  entrance  into  a  justified 
state,  is  here  revealed  to  us  as  in- 
breathing the  very  Spirit  and  Life  of 
God,  whereby  we  are  made  partakers 
of  the  Divine  nature,  and  thereby 
possible  partakers  of  the  Divine  bliss. 


II 


Summary  of  Teaching  in  Kpisti^k 
TO  THEj  Corinthians. 


o\3T:  of  ch^j 


^\tX^* 


etc. 


IN   CHRIST 

SANCTIFIED. 

Christ  the  Sphere  op  Santifi- 

CATION. 

Holy  in  Christ. 

The  Holy  Spirit,  the  New  Atmosphere 

AND  Element  of  the  Believer's  I^ife. 

Unity  with  God  by  Partaking  op 

His  Nature. 

Inhabitation  by  God  as  His  Temple. 

Possessing  God,  Possessed  by  God. 

Separated  Unto  Him. 

^  A   New  Creation  y  ^ 

'^\^  IN  Christ.  X    ^ 


.*^ 


'U/l  |0  AbmS 


(3a[atian5  63 


III 

THK    KPISTlvK  TO  THK   GAI.ATIANS 

Of  this  epistle,  chapter  first,  and 
chapter  second,  as  far  as  verse  14,  are 
historical  and  introdu(5lory,  and  the 
proper  argument  of  the  epistle  is  not 
fully  entered  upon  until  this  prelim- 
inary or  prefatory  portion  is  passed. 
But,  so  soon  as  we  touch  the  body  of 
the  epistle  proper,  we  find  the  phrase 
in  Christ  or  its  equivalent,  with  Christy 
abounding.     See  ii :  15-20. 

Not  only  does  the  relation  of  the  be- 
liever to  Christ,  as  the  sphere  of  his 
being,  again  appear  here,  as  the  con- 
trolling thought  of  this  epistle,  but  in 
no  equal  number  of  words  found  any- 
where else  is  the  subjedl  presented  with 
such  completeness  and  comprehensive- 
ness. Every  variety  of  expression  is 
here  found,  such  as  '  *  by  the  faith  of 


64  f  n  Cbr(0t  3c6m 

Christ, "  "  crucified  with  Christ, ' '  etc.  ; 
but  the  most  striking  words  which 
arrest  the  eye  are  these:  "^  I  live ^  yet 
not  /,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me. ' ' 

Here  is  the  key  to  the  Epistle  to  the 
Galatians:  **In  Christ  crucified, 
YET  LIVING  UNTO  GoD. "  As  a  beHever 
I  am  in  Christ,  and  therefore  I  am  dead 
to  the  law  and  to  its  penalty;  I  am  in 
Christ,  and  therefore  alive  unto  God, 
and  dead  to  the  world  (vi.  :  14)  and  to 
the  old  self -life,  and  to  the  power  of  the 
flesh,     (v  :  24.) 

There  are  thus  four  aspects  of  the 
crucifixion  —  in  a  sense  a  four-fold 
crucifixion  of  the  believer  :  he  dies  to 
the  law  both  as  a  justifier  and  an  ac- 
cuser; he  dies  to  the  world  with  its 
fascination  and  domination ;  he  dies 
to  the  flesh  with  its  affedlions  and 
lusts ;  and  he  dies  to  himself  that 
Christ  may  live  in  him. 

The  full  significance  of  this  teaching 
^11  be  seen  only  when  the  exadl  Ian- 


(5alatian6  65 


guage  is  carefully  noted,  even  to  the 
changes  of  voice,  mood,  and  tense  in 
the  verb,  and  of  prepositions  which  here 
are  to  be  found  in  great  variety.  To 
begin  with  the  prepositions:  in  verses 
19-20  of  chapter  two,  we  have  in  the 
English  version  seven  prepositions: 
through,  to,  unto,  with,  in,  by,  for; 
and  in  the  Greek  three,  Sia,  ev,  vitep; 
others  being  suggested  by  the  case  of 
nouns  and  by  the  construction  of  the 
sentence,  and  which  the  English  trans- 
lation admirably  renders  by  the  seven 
prepositions  there  found.  But  let  us 
notice  also  the  changes  of  verbs  :  "I  am 
dead,"  or, '*  I  died"  (R.V.)  ;  "lam 
crucified,"  or,  ''I  have  been  crucified 
(R.  v.);  "  the  world  is  crucified,"  or 
'  *  hath  been  crucified  unto  me ' '  (R.  V. )  ; 
and,  * '  have  crucified  the  flesh. ' '  One 
can  not  but  observe  the  marked  change 
in  the  last  case,  where  we  have  not  the 
passive  but  active  voice  ;  and  not  with- 
out reason.     For  in  part  our  crucifix- 


•ffn  Cbrfst  ^csns 


ion  with  Christ  injudicial,  co7istructive^ 
passive,  belonging  wholly  to  the  past 
and  completed  work  of  the  cross;  but  in 
part  it  is  pracftical,  adlual,  destrudlive 
of  a  present  power  and  enemy  ;  and 
ac5live,  as  something  in  which  we  take 
adlive  part.  So  far  as  the  law  is  con- 
cerned, I  have  nothing  to  do  as  a 
believer  but  to  accept  Christ's  satis- 
facflion  of  its  claims  by  His  death,  and 
His  purchase  of  my  justification  by  His 
obedience.  The  whole  transadlion  is 
as  much  a  past  one  as  a  canceled  debt 
or  a  ransom  paid.  I,  through  the 
law,  which  brought  Him  to  the  cross 
as  the  sinner's  satisfac5lion  and  surety, 
died,  in  Him,  to  the  law,  both  as  my 
vindicator  and  accuser.  And  so,  in 
His  death,  with  which  by  faith  I  am 
identified,  the  world  is  for  evermore 
made  my  enemy  because  it  was  His, 
and  I  am  in  Him  exposed  to  its 
derision  as  was  He.  To  be  in  Christ 
implies  that  I  am  no  more  in  the  world 


©alatlans  67 


as  tlie  sphere  of  my  true  life,  love,  and 
satisfac5lion.  This  again  is  a  past  trans- 
ac5lion,  tho  it  may  become  more 
and  more  a  pradlical  reality  as  I  come 
more  under  the  power  of  that  trans- 
a<5lion.  But,  as  to  the  flesh  with  its 
affe(5lions  and  lusts,  is  not  that  a  daily 
dying  to  which  I  consent  as  a  present 
fact,  and  which  implies  present  pain  f 
The  faith  whereby  I  am  made  one  with 
Christ  as  the  sinbearer  impUes  no  par- 
ticipation in  His  vicarious  agony.  He 
suffered  for  me,  the  just  for  the  unjust, 
that  He  might  bring  me  unto  God. 
But  I  did  not  suffer  with  Him  on  the 
cross,  nor  in  any  sense  share  that  vica- 
rious death,  save  as  He  was  my  sub- 
stitute that  I  might  not  come  into 
judgment.  He  bore  my  sins  that  I 
might  not  bear  them;  and  from  the 
moment  of  my  full  acceptance  of  Him 
as  my  Savior  and  Substitute  and 
Surety,  my  penalty  is  borne  and  my 
judgment  is  past. 


fn  Cbrlst  5e0us 


Not  so  of  'Ciix^  flesh  crucifixion.  It 
is  something  to  which  I  consent  as  a 
present  experience.  It  has  to  do,  not 
with  a  justification  which  He  bought 
for  me  and  which  I  afterward  accepted, 
without  participation  in  the  process  ; 
but  with  a  sandlification  that  is  wrought 
in  me  by  the  indwelling  Spirit  and 
which  I  am  now  to  participate  in, 
working  out  my  own  salvation  with 
fear  and  trembling,  knowing  that  it  is 
God  that  worketh  in  me  both  to  will 
and  to  do.  This  is  the  mortifying  of 
our  members  which  are  upon  the 
earth,  referred  to  in  Romans  viii :  13 
and  in  Colossians  iii :  5 :  * '  Mortify 
therefore  your  members."  Mortify 
does  not  mean  to  reckon  dead  but  to 
make  dead.  Here  is  a  daily,  pra(5lical, 
painful  death  which  by  the  Spirit  we 
in  a  sense  inflict  on  ourselves,  not  in 
any  meritorious  sort,  but  as  a  matter 
of  choice,  that  we  may  be  adlually 
identified  with  Christ   in  holy  living 


©alatians  09 


and  serving,  as  we  are  judicially  one 
with  Him  in  the  justifying  efficacy 
and  effe(5l  of  His  crucifixion. 

Thus  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians 
meets  the  believer  where  the  Epistles 
to  the  Romans  and  to  the  Corinthians 
leave  him,  and  urges  him  forward.  It 
is  the  epistle  of  ' '  newness  of  life, ' '  cor- 
responding to  His/orfy  days*  walk  after 
His  resurredlion.  How  beautiful,  and 
how  significant!  In  Romans,  we  saw 
the  believer  in  Christ  expiating  the 
law's  penalty  and  satisfying  its  claims, 
dying,  buried,  and  then  rising  by  the 
power  of  the  Spirit,  prepared  to  live 
unto  God.  In  Corinthians,  we  saw  him 
inbreathed  and  indwelt  of  the  Spirit 
and  finding  in  the  Spirit  his  divine 
element,  the  source  and  secret  of  con- 
tinuous life  and  permanent  and  indis- 
soluble union  with  Christ.  And  now 
the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  opens  up 
before  the  believer  a  complete  life  walky 
corresponding  to  the  path  which  the 


70  iTn  Gbtist  5e6us 

risen  Christ  pursued  between  the 
sepulchre  and  the  ascension.  That 
walk  of  His  in  newness  of  life  covered 
forty  daySy  the  period  of  completeness, 
and  it  stands  for  the  rounded-out  life  of 
the  believer,  after  he  is  risen  with 
Christ  and  has  received  the  Holy 
Spirit,  whose  indwelling  makes  such  a 
"walk"  with  God,  in  the  Spirit,  pos- 
sible. 

For  this  reason  it  is  that  nowhere 
else  but  in  this  epistle  do  we  find  the 
four  foes  of  the  holy  life,  all  put  before 
us  in  their  relations  to   Chris f  s  cross. 

First  of  all  the  law,  which  is  our  foe, 
because  its  voice  is  always  and  justly 
condemnatory.  Turn  which  way  we 
will  for  legal  justification,  it  meets  us 
only  as  an  accuser.  If  we  attempt 
to  atone  for  our  past  disobedience,  it 
reminds  us  that  there  can  no  possible 
amends  be  made  by  us,  because  dis- 
obedience is  death,  and  we  are  dead  to 
God  and  to  all  hope — we  have  not  even 


(5alatian0  71 


life  in  us  to  become  the  basis  of  fellow- 
ship with  God.  Or,  if  we  attempt  to 
start  anew,  henceforth  to  obey,  the  law 
reminds  us  that  the  sin  of  the  past 
would  make  our  acceptance  impossible, 
even  if  we  could  henceforth  perfedlly 
keep  the  commandments  of  God  ;  and, 
moreover,  that  such  obedience  is  im- 
possible because  of  the  sin  which  is 
the  very  root  not  only  of  all  our  sins, 
but  of  our  depraved  being  or  nature 
itself.  But  the  law  is  slain  as  our 
enemy,  for  when  Christ  died  for  us,  He 
put  the  law  power  out  of  court,  so  far 
as  our  judgment  is  concerned,  so  that 
even  the  law  can  no  longer  lay  any- 
thing to  the  charge  of  God's  eledl. 

But  there  is  a  second  foe:  the  world; 
and  what  shall  I  do  to  meet  that  and 
overcome  it  ?  This  is  the  vicftory  that 
overcometh  the  world,  even  our  faith. 
He  has  overcome  the  world,  and  He 
bids  us  be  of  good  cheer.  John  xvi: 
33.     We    have    only    to   accept    our 


72  fn  Cbrist  Jcem 

justified  standing  in  Him  and  reckon 
on  His  death  for  us  and  His  life  in  us, 
and  the  power  of  the  world  is  broken. 
Because  it  was  and  is  His  enemy,  it  is 
also  ours;  but  because  it  was  and  is 
His  vanquished  foe,  it  is  also  our  sub- 
dued, defeated,  overcome  foe.  The 
powers  of  the  age  to  come  we  have 
tasted,  and  the  powers  of  the  present 
evil  age  are  driven  back,  and  so  a 
second  foe  is  defeated.  We  look  at 
the  unseen  and  eternal,  rather  than 
the  seen  and  temporal,  and  walk  by 
faith,  not  by  sight. 

But  there  is  a  third  foe  of  our  spiri- 
tual life  and  holy  walk,  and  how  shall 
we  meet  it?  It  is  \h&  fleshy  with  its 
affedlions  and  lusts  warring  against  the 
Spirit  with  the  aspirations  and  affinities 
for  God  which  the  Spirit  makes  pos- 
sible. Here  again  we  are  crucified 
with  Christ.  We  take  our  stand  at 
the  cross  and  consent  to  be  nailed  to 
it,  voluntarily,  acftually;  to  submit  to 


<Balat(an6  73 


the  pain  whereby  the  flesh  dies;  the 
hands  are  pierced  that  carnal  work 
may  no  longer  be  done  in  the  energy 
of  the  flesh;  the  feet  are  pierced  that 
no  longer  we  may  walk  according  to 
the  flesh;  the  brow  is  pierced  with  the 
thorn-crown  that  our  head  may  not 
any  longer  be  held  up  for  human  dia- 
dems and  fading  laurel  wreaths;  the 
side  is  pierced  that  the  heart  may  relin- 
quish its  fleshly  energy  and  preference, 
and  be  occupied  with  God.  This  is, 
let  us  not  deny  it!  a  painful  process — 
it  is  the  voluntary  and  daily  crucifix- 
ion of  the  fleshly  affedlions  and  lusts. 
And  so,  but  only  so,  is  a  third  foe  de- 
feated by  the  cross,  which  we  take  up 
daily,  that  we  may  follow  Him. 

Another  foe  remains,  subtlest  of  all 
— the  self -life.  What  a  host  of  foes  in 
one  !  The  self-trust  that  prevents  trust 
only  in  Him, — the  self-help  that  turns 
us  from  our  only  true  Help, — the  self- 
love  that  makes  our  own  advantage  an 


74  f  n  Cbtf0t  Jesua 

idolatrous  objedl, — the  self-pride  that 
absorbs  us  in  our  own  supposed  excel- 
lence,— the  self-defense  that  makes  us 
our  own  champions  and  promotes  end- 
less strife, — the  self-glory  that  puts 
even  the  glory  of  God  in  the  back- 
ground. 

What  shall  be  done  with  the  self-life  ? 
lyCt  us  learn  here  that  the  only  hope 
again  is  in  being  crucified  with  Christ. 
On  the  cross  His  self-life,  though 
never  corrupted  by  sin,  was  given  up 
for  others.  He  gave  Himself  for  us. 
And  He  says  to  us,  if  any  man  will 
come  after  me,  let  him  deny  himself — 
not  his  self-indulgences,  which  may 
only  change  their  form — but  him^^^. 
Much  that  we  call  self-denial  is  not 
5^^-denial  at  all.  We  cut  off  some 
branch  of  our  selfish  enjoyments,  but 
the  only  effec5l  is  to  throw  back  the  sap 
into  the  other  branches  to  make  them 
more  vigorous  and  fruitful.  The  ax 
must  be  laid  at  the  root  of  the  tree ; 


(Balattans  75 


that  is  denial  of  self.  And  then,  as 
Dr.  Moule  beautifully  says,  the  great 
gigantic,  arrogant,  nominative  **/"  is 
* '  infledled  into  the  prostrate,  humble, 
objedlive  me^'  —  ' '  I  am  crucified  with 
Christ.  Nevertheless  /  live,  yet  not  /, 
but  Christ  liveth  in  me. ' ' 

There  remains  but  one  more/b^ — 
the  devil  —  and  we  shall  see  that  his 
defeat  is  presented  to  us,  not  in  this 
epistle,  but  in  the  Epistle  to  the 
Bphesians  ;  and  for  the  obvious  reason 
that  that  V\€iory  is  connedled  not  so 
much  with  the  death  of  Christ  as  with 
His  ascension  to  the  heavenlies.  Here 
we  have  to  do  with  those  foes  of  holy 
living  whose  defeat  is  particularly  as- 
sociated with  His  cross.  I  am  crucified 
with  Christ,  and  hence  I  am  dead  to 
the  law,  I  am  crucified  to  the  world, 
I  have  crucified  the  flesh,  and  the 
self-life  is  nailed  to  the  cross  that  the 
/  might  no  longer  be  adlive  but  pas- 
sive— the  me  in  whom  He  dwells  and 


76  iTn  Cbtf6t  5e6U6 

works.  I  can  not  be  crucified  to  the 
devil,  nor  can  I  crucify  him  ;  even  to 
the  crucified  disciple  he  appears  as  a 
wily  foe,  constantly  on  the  alert,  and 
we  need  to  mount  with  Christ  to  the 
heavenlies  before  Satan  is  beneath  our 
feet. 

What  wonder,  then,  that  in  Gala- 
tians  vi :  15,  as  in  II.  Cor.  v  :  17,  we 
have  Christ  presented  as  the  sphere  of 
the  new  creation.  In  Christ  Jesus 
neither  circumcision  nor  uncircumci- 
sion  availeth  anything,  but  a  new  crea- 
tion ;  no  forms,  ceremonies,  rites,  reg- 
ulations of  the  outer  life  can  efiecfl  or 
affedl  the  new  position  in  Christ.  We 
enter  into  Him  by  faith,  and  find  that 
we  are  in  a  sphere  where  all  things  are 
new. 

No  law  thunders  its  alarms  there : 
we  are  on  Zion,  not  underneath  Sinai. 
The  world  makes  no  appeal  there,  for 
its  gold  would  be  trodden  under  feet 
as  refuse,  and  its  crowns  are  all  seen  to 


©alatlans  77 


be  withered  and  worthless.  The  flesh 
has  no  control  there,  for  the  law  of  the 
Spirit  of  life  controls  the  whole  being. 
The  old  self  sways  us  no  longer,  for 
what  used  to  exalt  itself  against  God 
and  usurp  authority,  is  content  to  be 
servant  of  servants  to  Him.  We  are 
in  Christ,  in  a  new  world  of  privilege 
and  possession.  lyike  Him  in  His 
forty  days'  walk  we  are  living  a 
supernatural  life,  a  life  more  in  heaven 
than  on  earth,  a  life  in  the  power  of 
the  Spirit,  a  life  which  defies  all  the  old 
forces  that  swayed  us,  as  He  was  no 
longer  under  the  limitations  of  the 
liuman  and  the  natural.  The  new 
walk  with  God  in  Christ  is  a  walk  in 
an  essentially  new  world  of  depend- 
ence on  God  and  of  power  in  God.  Of 
course,  no  rites  will  avail  to  introduce 
us  into  such  a  new  world — renewal 
alone  would  suffice. 

Here,  then,  we  have  found  Christ 
the  sphere  of  a  new  life  which  comes  to 


78  ifn  Cbri0t  Jesus 

us  by  the  surrender  of  the  old.  We 
cease  from  all  dependence  on  the  law 
that  we  may  know  the  power  of  grace. 
We  cease  from  all  dependence  on  the 
flesh  that  we  may  walk  in  the  Spirit, 
and  no  longer  fulfil  its  lusts.  We 
cease  from  walking  with  the  world 
that  we  may  walk  with  God,  and  we 
resign  the  self-life  that  the  Christ-life 
may  be  fully  regnant  in  us. 

This  epistle  suggests  a  possible  and 
pradlical  walk  with  God.  But  its 
secret  is  a  new  atmosphere  of  life. 
There  is  a  displacement  of  a  hostile 
element,  that  once  made  holy  living 
impossible,  by  another  element  which, 
so  far  as  it  prevails,  renders  deliberate 
sinning  quite  as  impossible. 

''  Walk  by  the  Spirit,  and  ye  shall 
not  fulfil  the  lust  of  the  flesh.  For 
the  flesh  lusteth  against  the  Spirit, 
and  the  Spirit  against  the  flesh ; 
for  these  are  contrary  the  one  to  the 
other;  that  ye  may  not  do  the  things 


0alatfan0  79 


that    ye    would."      Gal.   v  :   16-17. 
R.  V. 

Rev.  F.  B.  Meyer  says: 

* '  In  the  best  of  men  there  is  a  ten- 
dency to  do  certain  things  they  ought 
not,  but  the  more  they  are  filled  with 
the  Spirit,  the  more  it  is  true  of  them 
that  they  are  kept  from  doing  what 
otherwise  they  would.  When  I  was  a 
boy  I  used  to  go  to  the  Polytechnic  in 
Ivondon,  where  my  favorite  diversion 
was  a  diving-bell,  which  had  seats 
around  the  rim,  and  which  at  a  given 
time  was  filled  with  people  and  lowered 
into  a  tank.  We  used  to  go  down 
deeper,  deeper  into  the  water,  but  not 
a  drop  came  into  that  diving-bell,  tho 
it  had  no  bottom,  and  the  water  was 
quite  within  reach,  because  the  bell 
was  so  full  of  air  that,  tho  the  water 
lusted  against  the  air,  the  air  lusted 
against  the  water,  because  air  was 
being  pumped  in  all  the  time  from  the 
top,  and  the  water  could  not  do  what 
it  otherwise  would  do.  If  you  are  full 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,    the   flesh-life  is 


80  irn  Cbrist  5e6U5 

underneath    you,    and    tho   it  would 
surge  up,  it  is  kept  out. ' ' 

To  one  who  walks  in  the  Spirit,  the 
lusts  of  the  flesh  become  impotent  to 
control,  until  the  spiritual  man  comes 
at  last  to  marvel  that  he  ever  felt  cer- 
tain inclinations  and  passions  swaying 
him.  I^et  us  once  more  hear  the  old 
eastern  story  : 

' '  The  haughty  favorite  of  an  Orien- 
tal monarch  threw  a  stone  at  a  poor 
priest.  The  dervish  did  not  dare  to 
throw  it  back,  for  the  favorite  was 
very  powerful.  So  he  picked  up  the 
stone  and  put  it  carefully  in  his 
pocket,  saying  to  himself :  *  The 
time  for  revenge  will  come  by  and  by, 
and  then  I  will  repay  him. '  Not  long 
afterward,  walking  in  one  of  the 
streets,  he  saw  a  great  crowd,  and 
found  to  his  astonishment,  that  his 
enemy,  the  favorite,  who  had  fallen 
into  disgrace  with  the  king,  was  being 
paraded  through  the  principal  streets 
on  a  camel,  exposed  to  the  jests  and 
insults  of  the  populace.     The  dervish 


(Balatlans  81 


seeing  all  this,  hastily  grasped  at  the 
stone  which  he  carried  in  his  pocket, 
saying  to  himself:  '  The  time  for  my 
revenge  has  come,  and  I  will  repay 
him  for  his  insulting  conduct.'  But 
after  considering  a  moment,  he  threw 
the  stone  away,  saying:  *  The  thne  for 
revenge  never  comes;  for  if  our  enemy 
is  powerful,  revenge  is  dangerous  as 
well  as  foolish,  and  if  he  is  weak  and 
wretched,  then  revenge  is  worse  than 
foolish,  it  is  mean  and  cruel.  And  in 
all  cases  it  is  forbidden  and  wicked.'  " 

Not  only  for  revenge,  but  for  all  vol- 
untary sin,  the  time  should  never  come 
to  a  regenerated  child  of  God.  The 
believer,  having  received  the  Spirit  of 
God  as  the  indwelliyig  Spirit,  must 
accept  Him  pradtically  as  the  inwork- 
ing  Spirit,  and  follow  His  gentlest  and 
faintest  motions  and  leadings.  There 
is  something  higher  than  even  to  be 
taught  by  the  Spirit,  namely,  to  be  led 
of  the  Spirit.  We  fear  many  have 
been  taught  who  have  not  been  led; 


82  irn  Cbrfet  ^cbwb 

and  failure  to  be  led  makes  us  more 
and  more  incapable  of  being  taught, 
for  the  disobedient  soul  becomes  callous 
to  divine  impression.  He  who  is  risen 
with  Christ,  and  has  the  Breath  of 
God  in  him,  should  live  as  a  risen, 
quickened,  breathing  son  of  God,  and 
walk  in  the  Spirit  in  newness  of  life. 

This  expression,  first  found  in 
Romans  vi :  4,  is  one  of  singular  mean- 
ing, and  the  whole  Epistle  to  the  Gala- 
tians  is  a  commentary  upon  it.  L^et 
us,  therefore,  tarry  to  examine  it  more 
carefully.  ''That,  like  as  Christ  was 
raised  from  the  dead  by  the  glory  of  the 
Father,  eve7i  so  we  also  should  walk  in 
newness  of  life.  ^^ 

Two  things  here  are  very  noticeable. 
First,  there  is  to  be  a  walk  in  newness 
of  life,  and,  second,  it  is  to  find  its  type 
and  likeness  in  the  resurredlion  life  of 
the  Lord  Himself. 

This  phrase,  "newness  of  life," 
occurs  only  here,  and  itself  opens  up 


(Balatians 


an  immense  territory  of  thought. 
Even  in  the  life  of  the  God-man  there 
was,  after  His  rising  from  the  dead,  a 
newness  of  life  7nanifested,  which  is  the 
type  and  pattern  of  what  our  life  may 
be  and  ought  to  be  in  Him. 

We  observe  apparently  new  condi- 
tions in  our  Lord's  post-resurrec5lion 
life  on  earth.  Up  to  this  time  Christ 
had  a  mortal  body,  born  of  a  woman, 
made  under  the  law,  and  subjec5l  to 
human  limitations,  identified  with  the 
condition  of  humanity.  Death  was 
possible  to  that  body,  and  adlually  en- 
dured by  Him  as  part  of  His  humilia- 
tion. But,  after  the  resurrecflion,  when 
He  rose  to  die  no  more,  and  death  had 
no  more  dominion  over  Him,  He  was, 
indeed,  the  ''  Prince  of  Life." 

His  life  was  now  and  henceforth  a 
resurredlion  life.  He  was  ' '  declared 
to  be  the  Son  of  God  with  power, 
according  to  the  Spirit  of  Holiness,  by 
the  resurredtion  from  the  dead, ' ' 


84  iTn  Cbrlst  Jesus 

It  was  a  supernatural  life.  His 
rising  was  a  miracle.  If  the  Scrip- 
tures are  very  minutely  examined,  it 
will  be  found  that  He  appears  to  have 
come  forth  without  human  or  even 
angelic  aid.  Tho  the  angel  rolled 
back  the  stone  from  the  door  of  the 
sepulchre,  it  is  never  once  intimated 
that  Christ  waited  for  that  before  He 
left  the  sealed  tomb;  it  would  rather 
appear  that  He  emerged  from  that 
closed  tomb  as  one  who  could  not  be 
thus  holden.  And  so  there  is  more 
than  an  intimation  that  He  sloughed 
off  those  grave  wrappings,  and  left 
them  in  their  original  convolutions, 
undisturbed,  as  they  were  wrapped  or 
rolled  about  Him.  This  was  what 
convinced  John  that  the  resurredlion 
was  miraculous.  He  saw  the  long 
linen  cloths — ^which,  with  a  hundred 
pounds  of  spices,  had  been  tightly 
wrapped  about  His  body  and  His 
head — lying  on  the  floor  of  the  rock 


©alatfane  85 


tomb,  exa(5lly  as  He  had  been  enveloped 
in  them — His  body,  endowed  with 
resurredlion  power,  slipping  out  from 
these  tight  and  heavy  cerements  of  the 
grave,  because  they  could  not  hold 
Him  fast.  See  John  xx  :  7-8.  Observe 
the  word,  evrsrvXtyjusvov.  And  all 
through  those  forty  days  Christ  seems 
to  have  been  independent  of  former 
conditions  and  limitations.  He  en- 
tered within  closed  doors.  He  assumed 
different  forms,  He  appeared  instantly 
and  as  instantly  vanished;  and  finally 
ascended  as  one  whom  even  gravitation 
no  more  controlled. 

All  this  suggests  what  is  meant  by 
our  walking  in  newness  of  life,  and 
why  such  a  simile  is  connected  with  it, 
"  that,  like  as  Christ  was  raised  from 
the  dead,"  etc.  Our  life  in  Him 
should  be  a  life  subjedt  to  entirely 
new  conditions — essentially  a  resur- 
redlion life,  a  life  supernatural  in 
power,  possible  only  by  the  Spirit  of 


86  iTn  Cbrl5t  ^csus 

Holiness,  a  life  no  longer  under  the 
dominion  of  former  lusts,  fleshly  bond- 
age; essentially  a  divine  life,  in  which 
celestial  forces  prevail  ;  a  life  of 
heavenly  knowledge,  and  strength, 
and  peace,  and  patience,  and  power ; 
a  life  of  heavenly  frames,  having  the 
lamb-like,  dove-like  quality.  Our 
resurredtion  life  may  be  and  should 
be  like  His,  more  of  heaven  than  of 
earth,  a  mysterious  life  that  no  worldly 
man  or  worldly-minded  disciple  can 
understand  or  explain. 

This  epistle  contains  an  instrudlive 
allegory  or  parable,  that  of  Hagar  and 
Ishmael,  the  pertinency  of  which  is  not 
seen  by  every  reader.  Let  us  close 
this  chapter  by  a  reference  to  it. 

In  chapter  iv  :  22-31,  this  history  is 
presented  as  having  a  deeper  allegorical 
meaning  than  the  mere  surface  reveals. 
This  Hagar  is  Mount  Sinai,  which 
gendereth  to  bondage.  Sarah  repre- 
sents grace,  and  Isaac,  her  son,  the 


©alatlana  87 


liberty  of  faith.  Hagar  represents 
law,  and  Ishmael,  who  is  her  son, 
represents  the  bondage  which  unbe- 
lief engenders .  The  territory  in  which 
both  for  a  time  sought  to  live  is  the 
believer's  own  experience.  But  the 
two  are  incompatible  and  irrecon- 
cilable. Faith  and  unbelief,  liberty 
and  slavery,  love  and  fear,  hope  and 
despair,  can  not  abide  together.  And 
God  says  to  every  child  of  His,  ' '  cast 
out  the  bondwoman  and  her  son,  for 
there  can  be  no  common  inheritance 
for  the  son  of  the  bondwoman  and  the 
son  of  the  freewoman.  Give  your 
heart  wholly  to  the  dominion  of  grace 
and  faith." 

The  same  lesson  is  taught  in  He- 
brews xii :  18-29,  ill  that  other  parable 
of  Sinai  and  Sion.  Leave  the  mount 
that  quakes  and  burns,  with  its  black- 
ness and  darkness  and  tempest  and 
trumpet  and  awful  voice  of  law;  and 
live  on  Mount  Sion,  the  place  of  the 


•ffn  Cbrl6t  5esu0 


king's  palace,  with  its  holy  memories, 
experiences,  and  prospecfts.  There 
you  look  back  to  Calvary's  cross,  up 
to  heaven's  daily  blessing,  and  forward 
to  the  far  but  near  horizon  of  the 
blessed  hope.  Faith  reconciles  ;  faith 
saves,  not  only  from  hell,  but  from 
the  inward  slough  of  despond  and  the 
torments  of  fear.  Faith  makes  real 
the  encampment  of  God's  holy  angels 
about  the  believer  and  the  fellowship  of 
all  redeemed  souls  in  heaven  and 
earth.  Faith  makes  you  conscious 
and  confident  of  your  heavenly  citizen- 
ship, and  your  interest  in  atoning 
blood,  which  calls  not  for  vengeance 
but  for  mercy. 

All  these  lessons  are  summed  up  in 
that  one  verse:  "  That,  like  as  Christ 
was  raised  from  the  dead  by  the  glory 
of  the  Father,  even  so  we  also  should 
walk  in  newness  of  life. ' ' 


Ill 


Summary  of  Tejaching  in  Kpisti,^ 

TO    THE    GalATIANS. 
^\    OF    CHRls^ 


.v'^ 


A« 


IN  CHRIST 
CRUCIFIED. 

Christ,  the  Sphere  of 
Self-Renunciation. 
Dead  to  the  I^aw,  the  World,  the      I  ^ 

Flesh,  and  the  Self-I^ife. 
A  New  Creation  in  Christ,  a  New 

World  in  Him. 
Walking  in  the  Spirit  with  New 
I^ife  and  Liberty. 
Finding,  Through  Death,  New- 
ness OF  I^IFE. 
Sowing  to  the  Spirit.         y    «■ 
Reaping  I<ife  Kver-      ^  ^ 


LASTING. 


.0* 


\. 


^W//Mos    •ejn-*^'*^ 


}6pbe0fan6  91 


IV 

Thk  Kpistlk  to  thk  Ephesians 

The  very  first  verse  contains  the 
expression,  '■^  faithful  in  Christ  fesus^^ 
and  the  third  verse  furnishes  the  key- 
to  this  epistle  in  one  short  sentence, 
comprising  the  sum  of  all  its  exalted 
teaching:  **  Who  hath  blessed  us  with 
all  spiritual  blesshigs  in  Thk  hkavkn- 
i,iES  IN  Christ.  ' ' 

This  letter  to  the  Ephesians  lifts  us 
to  the  very  summit,  the  third  heaven 
of  privilege,  and  is  especially  rich  in 
that  phrase  which  we  are  now  devoutly 
tracing  throughout  the  New  Testa- 
ment. We  find  here  at  least  ten  sepa- 
rate uses  or  combinations  of  the  words 
in  Christ  or  in  Him,  as  applied  to  the 
present  estate  of  the  believer,  and  as 
exhibiting  His  possible  heavenly  life 


fn  Cbctet  5C0U0 


even  while  on  earth;  and  there  is  one 
besides  which  refers  to  coming  bless- 
ing. These  features  of  this  Epistle  we 
shall  find  singularly  true  also  of  the 
companion  Epistle  to  the  Colossians. 

In  this  epistle  we  are  declared  to  be, 
IN  CHRIST,  chosen,  predestinated  to  the 
adoption  of  children,  accepted;  to  have 
redemption  and  forgiveness,  to  be 
quickened  or  made  alive,  raised,  seated 
in  the  heavenlies;  to  have  been  sealed 
and  to  have  obtained  an  inheritance  : 
these  are  the  ten  present  blessings,  and 
the  one,  yet  future,  is  that  in  Him  we 
are  to  be  gathered  together  in  one, 
with  all  saints,  at  His  coming. 

The  peculiar  truth  thus  introduced 
to  our  view  in  this  epistle  is,  there- 
fore, the  heavenly  nature  and  divhie 
fulness  of  this  sphere  of  the  new  life. 
When  by  faith  we  enter  into  Christ, 
the  life  we  are  introduced  into,  is  not 
earthly,  but  essentially  heavenly.  It 
is  not  to  be  confounded  with  joys  and 


JEpbesfans 


privileges  which  are  of  this  world, 
however  pure  and  lawful.  In  Christ 
we  are  lifted  above  the  level  even  of 
saintly  communion  as  such.  Our 
human  ties  and  relations  with  God's 
own  people  are  very  precious,  but  that 
of  which  the  Spirit  here  treats  is  some- 
thing higher  than  the  human  relation 
which  disciples  sustain  here  to  each 
other.  We  ascend  in  thought  above 
the  Church  on  earth,  with  its  assem- 
blies of  saints,  its  sacraments,  ordi- 
nances, and  fellowship  ;  here  we  are 
viewed  as  one  with  Christ  aiid  one  in 
Christ,  He,  indeed,  in  heaven,  and 
we  on  earth;  yet  our  life  in  Him  a 
heavenly  life  because  it  is  in  Him  who 
is  in  heaven.  Hence  the  word 
'■'places^''  supplied  by  the  translators, 
may  mislead,  for  we  are  not  as  yet  in 
heavenly  places,  but  in  earthly  places, 
though  we  may  and  ought  to  be  in 
heavenly  states  of  mind,  heart,  and  [ 
experience. 


94  ifn  Cbrtet  ^cens 

The  difference  is  not  a  mere  verbal 
distindlion.  A  devout  woman  whom 
I  once  visited,  to  condole  with  her  on 
the  recent  departure  of  an  aged  and 
most  saintly  mother,  said  to  me  with  a 
smile:  **For  forty  years,  my  dear 
mother's  mind  has  been  in  Heaven." 
And  I  could  not  but  recall  those  ex- 
quisite lines  of  Goldsmith: 

I^ike  some  tall  cliff  that  lifts  its  awful  form, 
Swells  from  the  vale  but  midway  leaves  the 

storm, 
Though  round  its  breast  the  rolling  clouds  are 

spread, 
Rternal  sunshine  settles  on  its  head. 

While  yet  in  the  body  and  on  earth, 
the  mind  and  heart  may  be  in  Heaven; 
we  ought  to  be  essentially  living  on  a 
higher,  celestial  level.  This  is  the 
grand  possibility  and  privilege  to 
which  the  Holy  Spirit  turns  our  eyes. 
And,  as  all  saints  are,  alike,  in  Christ 
Jesus,  they  are  all  in  Him  o?te.  This 
thought  of  our  unity  in  Christ  runs 
side  by  side  with  the  other,  of  our  high 


Bpbesfane  95 


privilege  in  Him,  throughout  these 
chapters:  in  fadl,  this  unity  is  itself 
one  of  the  most  exalted  forms  of  this 
heavenly  life,  and  is  more  emphasized 
here  than  perhaps  anywhere  else, 
more  figures  being  here  employed 
to  give  it  expression  than  in  the  whole 
New  Testament  besides. 

lyet  us  first  of  all  glance  at  the  teach- 
ings here  contained  as  to  this  U7iity  of 
saints  m  Christ  Jesus, 

To  begin  with,  the  conception  of 
Christ,  as  the  sphere  of  all  holy  living, 
implies  this  unity.  This  sphere  is  in- 
visible, however  real,  and  our  entrance 
into  it  and  our  abiding  in  it  are  not 
therefore  matters  of  sense.  Our  place  in 
it  has  to  be  obtained  or  received  through 
the  Spirit's  working,  and  recognized  or 
perceived  through  the  Spirit's  teach- 
ing. We  must  also  recognize  the  place 
of  other  saints  in  the  same  sphere,  by 
the  same  spiritual  discernment.  As  we 
come  into  contact  with  true  fellow-be- 


96  iTn  Cbrl0t  Jesus 

lievers  and  perceive  in  them  the  Christ 
image — as  we  see  that  they  breathe  the 
same  air  and  live  the  same  life,  that 
they  also  belong  to  Christ  and  partake 
also  of  His  Spirit,  our  conception  of  the 
unity  of  all  believers  in  Him  grows 
continually  in  vividness  of  impression. 
We  can  not  help  our  love  going  out  to 
them;  to  whatever  different  sphere 
they  may  belong,  in  family,  .social,  or 
national  life,  they  belong  with  us  to 
that  supreme  sphere  which  is  celestial 
and  eternal.  And  here  is  the  only 
real  hope  of  unity  in  the  Church:  it  is 
found  in  the  recognition  of  our  mutual 
relation  to  Christ,  and  in  Him  to  each 
other — as  our  Lord  prayed,  ' '  that  they 
also  may  be  one  in  Us. ' ' 

The  spheres  of  family  life,  social  life, 
church  life,  and  national  life  are  all  vis- 
ible, and  they  impress  us  with  a  vivid 
sense  of  our  unity,  as  brothers,  neigh- 
bors, fellow  church  members,  fellow 
citizens:  but,  to  a  true  child  of  God,  the 


:6pbe6lan5  97 


invisible  bond  that  unites  all  believers  to 
Christ  is  far  more  tender,  and  lasting, 
and  precious;  and,  as  we  come  to 
recognize  and  realize  that  we  are  all 
dwelling  in  one  sphere  of  life  in  Him, 
we  learn  to  look  on  every  believer  as 
our  brother,  in  a  sense  that  is  infinitely 
higher  than  all  human  relationships. 
This  is  the  one  and  only  way  to  bring 
disciples  permanently  together.  All 
other  plans  for  promoting  the  unity  of 
the  Church  have  failed.  L<et  us  live 
more  and  more  in  Christ,  and  then  we 
shall  and  must  live  more  and  more  in  the 
bonds  of  a  holy  love  and  peace.  It  must 
be  first  of  all  the  unity  of  the  Spirit. 

This  unity  in  Christ  is  so  prominent 
in  this  epistle  that  we  must  not  lightly 
pass  it  by.  Besides  the  general  con- 
ception of  Christ  as  the  sphere  of  holy 
life,  common  to  all  these  epistles,  we 
shall  find  the  following  other  figures 
used  here  to  express  the  same  thought: 

I.  The    body  of  which   He  is  the 


irn  Cbrl6t  ScsuB 


head  and  we  the  members,     i :  22,  23, 
ii :  16,  iv  :  12-16. 

2.  God's  workmanship  —  itoirjua  — 
same  word  as  in  Rom.  i :  20,  a  creatio7i 
with  a  definite  purpose,  or  objedl,  and 
we,  all,  parts  of  that  sphere  of  crea- 
tion— "God's  poem,"  ii  :  10. 

3.  A  commonwealth^  ii :  12 — itoXivEia 
— a  community  in  which  we  are  citizens, 
introduced  into  it  by  the  blood,    ii :  19. 

4.  A  temple,  with  the  middle  wall  of 
partition  broken  down,  ii :  14.  *'  He 
is  our  peace. ' '     Two  courts — one. 

5.  One  new  7na7i,  ii  :  15,  a  very 
remarkable  expression,  eva  naivov 
avBpaoTtov,   nowhere   else  used. 

6.  One  household  of  God,  ii  :  19, 
oiHstoi,  members  of  one  household. 

7.  One  building  or  temple,  in  this 
case  with  reference  to  the  one  founda- 
tion, etc.,  and  one  habitation  of  God 
through  the  Spirit,     ii :  20,  22. 

8.  Fellow  -  heirs.  iii :  6.  Three 
words   :       dwKXrjpovojxa  —  dvddoojua  — 


Bpbesfans 


6vpijj,eToxa,  participators  of  one  inheri- 
tance. 

9.  Family,  itarpia.  iii :  15.  Tribe 
or  race  from  one  father — an  amplifica- 
tion and  expansion  of  the  idea  of  one 
household. 

10.  One  body  and  one  Spirit,  iv  :  4. 
The  septiform  of  unity  is  contained  in 
chapter  iv,  one  body,  one  Spirit,  one 
hope,  one  Lord,  one  faith,  one  bap- 
tism, one  God  and  Father. 

11.  The  bride  or  wife,     v  :  22-32. 

12.  The  panoply,  vi  :  10  and  the 
following  verses.  All  true  believers 
are  wearing  the  same  armor,  and  pano- 
plied in  the  same  Divine  power. 

This  unity  with  Christ  and  in  Him 
is  in  this  epistle  ma.de  to  depend  on 
our  partaking  of  His  Spirit,  and  hence 
the  prominence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  to 
whom  the  references  are  very  frequent 
and  varied: 

i  :  13.  That  Holy  Spirit  of  promise 
whereby  we  are  sealed. 


100  iTn  Cbrf6t  Jesus 

i  :  17.  The  Spirit  of  wisdom  and 
revelation  in  the  knowledge  of  Him. 

i:  19,  20.  The  Spirit  of  power  who 
wrought  in  Christ  and  raised  Him 
from  the  dead. 

ii :  18.  The  Spirit  of  access,  by  whom 
we  have  access  to  the  Father. 

ii  :  22.  The  Spirit  of  inhabitation 
whereby  God  dwells  in  us. 

iii  :  5.  The  Spirit  of  revelation  of 
the  mystery  of  Christ. 

iii :  16.  The  Spirit  of  strength  and 
might  in  the  inner  man. 

iv  :  4.  The  Spirit  of  unity  in  the 
body. 

V  :  9.  The  Spirit  of  fruitfulness  in 
all  goodness,  etc. 

V  :  18.  The  Spirit  of  fulness,  mak- 
ing all  our  life  spiritual. 

vi  :  17.  The  Spirit  of  truth  whose 
sword  is  the  Word. 

vi :  18.  The  Spirit  of  supplication 
and  intercession. 

Thus  there  are  at  least  twelve  or 


Bpbesians  lOl 


thirteen  references  to  the  Spirit  of 
God. 

Here,  then,  is  the  added  teaching 
of  the  Epistle  to  the  Kphesians,  as 
compared  with  the  preceding: 

Christ  is  the  sphere  of  all  heavenly 
privilege  and  blessijig.  We  have  first 
of  all  fellowship  with  Hi7n,  so  that,  as 
He  is  so  are  we  in  this  world.  We  are 
so  in  Him  that  God  looks  on  us  only 
as  in  Him,  as  having  been  and  done 
and  borne  and  achieved  all  that  He 
has,  Himself.  In  Him  we  are  God's 
elect,  accepted,  forgiven,  redeemed, 
raised  from  the  dead,  sealed  as  His 
own,  and  seated  with  Him,  in  the 
heavenlies. 

Our  fellowship  is  thus  with  the 
Father,  in  Him,  as  close  as  His  own 
fellowship. 

And  our  fellowship  is  also  with  all 
saints  in  heaven  and  on  earth,  of  time, 
past,  present,  and  future.  We  all  be- 
long, in    Him,  to    Him   and  to  one 


102  iFn  Cbrf0t  5e5U6 

another,  and  the  more  we  know  Him, 
the  more  we  shall  know  and  love  all 
who  are  His  and  who  are  in  Him. 

If  there  be  anything  higher  than 
this,  it  is  the  heavenly  life  involved  in 
all  this  teaching.  We  are  already  in 
heaven,  so  far  as  this  becomes  real  to 
us,' and  have  the  earnest  or  foretaste 
of  the  one  final  inheritance  of  all  saints. 

For  example,  take  chapter  vi :  lo 
and  following.  In  our  wrestling 
against  the  powers  of  darkness  that 
encompass  us  round  in  the  sphere  of 
the  earthly^  what  a  refuge  to  be  con- 
sciously environed  by  the  heavenly  I  to 
feel  Christ  as  between  us  and  all  hostile 
principalities  and  powers.  Observe, 
however  close  our  foes  may  be,  the 
panoply  is  between  us  a7id  them.  And 
so  it  is  of  the  believer.  Christ  is  the 
panoply  of  our  warfare.  He  is  next 
us  and  between  us  and  all  our  foes. 
How  elaborately  this  thought  is 
wrought  out    in  this    chapter.     The 


iBvbcBiam  103 


powers  of  darkness  are  here  repre- 
sented in  a  sixfold  aspec5l,  as  assailing 
the  head,  the  heart,  the  vital  parts,  and 
the  feet,  and  as  needing  to  be  met  by  an 
all-encompassing  coat  of  mail. 

How  are  they  to  be  confronted? 
Only  in  Christ.  He  is  to  be  the  hope 
of  salvation,  and  so  a  helmet  for  the 
head;  He  is  to  be  our  righteousness, 
and  so  a  breastplate;  He  is  to  be  our 
truth,  and  so  a  girdle  that  holds  us  and 
embraces  us;  He  is  to  be  our  sandals, 
and  so  alacrity  for  our  feet;  He  is  to 
be  the  sword  of  our  defense  and 
offense,  and  the  shield  that  quenches 
all  the  fiery  darts  of  Satan. 

We  have,  therefore,  Christ  here  pre- 
sented, not  only  as  the  heavenly  sphere 
of  fellowship  with  God  and  with 
saints,  but  as  the  sphere  of  absolute 
security  from  all  foes. 

There  is  added  one  word  of  warning. 
It  is  amazing  that  the  epistle  which 
thus    reveals    our    highest    privilege 


104  iTn  Cbrigt  5e0U0 

should  close  with  the  most  terrible 
caution  against  Satanic  wiles.  Here 
where  the  Spirit  of  God  is  most  con- 
spicuous as  the  indwelling  power  of 
the  believer,  the  spirit  of  evil  is  the 
most  conspicuous  as  the  spirit  that 
worketh  in  the  children  of  disobe- 
dience. 

Why  is  this  warning  ?  Because  we 
are  never  in  so  great  danger  as  when 
we  have  most  confidence  that  we  are 
filled  with  the  Spirit.  We  are  just 
then  most  apt  to  be  confident  that  all 
our  impulses  and  leadings  are  Divine 
leadings,  and  so  we  forget  to  try  the 
spirits  whether  they  be  of  God.  There 
are  men  and  women  who  claim  to  be 
Spirit  filled,  and  yet  are  daily  doing 
things  that  are  uncharitable  and  un- 
righteous ;  who  apologize  for  many 
things  that  are  not  only  foolish  and 
imwise,  but  unholy  in  tendency  and 
selfish  in  spirit;  running  to  all  sorts  of 
fanaticism  and  folly,  perhaps  into  im- 


;6pbe0lan6  105 


purity  and  iniquity,  under  the  plea 
that  they  are  guided  by  the  Spirit, 
until  the  reality  of  the  Spirit's  guid- 
ance is  brought  into  contempt.  Now 
observe  that  this  epistle  itself  puts  us 
on  our  guard  against  all  this  subtle 
error.  It  gives  us  two  or  three  criteria 
whereby  to  know  the  Spirit's  leading. 

1.  He  is  the  Sipirit  of  odedie7ice.  Chap, 
ii,  2-6.  Any  spirit  that  leads  to  dis- 
obedience, that  makes  us  slaves  to 
fleshly  lusts,  the  wills  of  the  flesh  and 
of  the  mind — and  the  course  of  this 
world — is  of  the  devil. 

2.  He  is  the  Spirit  oi  unity,  iv  :  3,4. 
Any  spirit  that  sows  seeds  of  strife, 
bitterness,  rancors  and  enmity  among 
disciples,  is  not  of  God. 

3.  He  is  the  Spirit  whose /rz^eV  is  in 
all  goodness,  and  righteousness,  and 
truth.  V  :  9.  By  their  fruits  ye  shall 
know  them. 

4.  He  is  the  Spirit  whose  sword  is  the 
Word,     vi  :  17.      And   any   guidance 


106  iTn  Cbrtet  Jeem 

which  is  not  through  the  Scriptures 
and  conformed  to  and  confirmed  by 
them,  is  false  and  delusive. 

No  other  epistle  is  so  emphatic  in  its 
presentation  of  the  danger  to  be  appre- 
hended from  hostile  and  demoniacal 
principalities  and  powers,  even  in  the 
heavenlies.  We  can  never  get  so  high 
in  our  spiritual  life  that  we  are  beyond 
the  reach  of  Satanic  wiles  and  lies,  and 
sedu<5lions  and  suggestions.  Nay,  it  is 
the  most  mature  disciple  that  Satan 
most  surely  assaults.  While  we  are 
under  the  sway  of  fleshly  appetites,  and 
of  worldly  allurements,  the  Prince  of 
Darkness  may  safely  leave  us  to  our 
bonds.  But  when  these  bonds  are 
broken  and  we  are  enjoying  the  liberty 
of  sons  of  God,  then  we  are  sure  to  be 
the  objec^ls  of  his  malignant  assault. 
It  is  as  in  human  wars;  no  general-in- 
chief  troubles  himself  about  helpless 
captives;  it  is  the  soldier  that  is  free  to 
fight  and  strong  to  overcome,  that  he 


iBpbesfans  107 


watches   and  seeks   to  vanquish   and 
destroy. 

If  there  be  any  one  aim  in  Bphesians  " 
which  marks  this  epistle  as  separate 
from  all  others,  it  is  found  in  iii :  i8,  19. 
*  * — that  we  may  be  able  to  comprehend 
with  all  saints  what  is  the  breadth  and 
length  and  depth  and  height,"  etc.,  to 
measure  the  immeasurable  dimensions 
of  this  sphere  of  heavenly  life,  and  love, 
and  privilege.  The  two  prayers  of 
Paul  which  find  record  in  this  epistle 
(i :  16-23,  iii  •  i4~2i),  find  in  this  their 
great  petition,  that  the  eyes  of  the  heart 
may  be  so  opened  and  illumined  as 
that  the  Ephesian  disciples  may  clearly 
see  and  know  what  is  the  hope  of  their 
calling,  and  what  the  riches  of  the  glory 
of  God's  inheritance  in  the  saints,  and 
what  is  the  exceeding  greatness  of  His 
power  toward  believers ;  and  to  know 
the  love  of  Christ,  which  passeth  knowl- 
edge. 
As  believers  we  discredit  our  own 


108  fn  Cbrist  Jesus 

privileges  and  possessions.  The  state- 
ments of  the  Word  of  God  seem  incred- 
ible— they  pass  our  comprehension  and 
even  apprehension .  We  can  not  believe 
that  such  things  are  true.  And  except 
the  Spirit  of  God  shall  open  our  eyes, 
illumine  our  understandings  and  hearts, 
and  so  enable  us  to  know,  we  shall  be 
blinded  by  the  very  glory  of  our  own 
privileges  in  Christ,  and  shall  account 
the  whole  of  this,  not  only  a  mystery, 
but  a  myth — a  poem,  a  dream.  The 
Holy  Spirit  alone  can  make  us  either 
to  possess  or  to  apprehend  what  an 
inheritance  we  have  in  God. 

The  fourfold  work  of  the  Spirit  is 
therefore  presented  in  this  epistle  as 
nowhere  else  within  the  same  brief 
compass  :  First,  anointi7igy  which 
affects  the  understanding ;  second, 
renewing,  which  reaches  the  disposi- 
tion ;  third,  sealmg,  which  affects  the 
heart  and  conscience  ;  and  fourth,  yf//- 
ing,  which  makes  speech  and  condu<5l 


Spbeafans  109 


full  of  God.  But  let  us  observe  that 
first  of  all  comes  that  anointing,  which 
makes  apprehension  of  these  spiritual 
truths  possible.  He  must  become  to 
us  the  Spirit  of  wisdom  and  revelation 
in  the  knowledge  of  Him  before  He 
can  make  any  other  of  these  blessings 
realities. 

lyCt  us  then  seek  to  reach  to  the 
greatness  of  this  truth.  Christ  Jesus 
is  essentially  a  heavenly  sphere  of 
life.  In  Him  we  are  already  exalted 
to  the  heavenlies.  He  in  heaven 
as  the  head  imparts  to  the  body  an 
essentially  celestial  experience,  the 
earnest  of  the  full  and  final  inher- 
itance. 

Among  these  heavenly  powers  and 
privileges  we  may  find  here  suggested 
even  if  not  expressed  : 

1 .  A  Heavenly  Knowledge  of  Divine 
Mysteries. 

2.  A  Heavenly  Life  or  Divine 
Quickening. 


110  iTn  Cbrtst  Jcewe 

3.  A  Heavenly  Union   with   Christ 
and  His  Saints. 

4.  A  Heavenly  Fellowship  with  all 
Holy  Being. 

5.  A  Heavenly  Earnest  or  Foretaste 
of  Bliss. 

6.  A  Heavenly  Access  with  boldness 
unto  God. 

7.  A  Heavenly  Frame,  renewed  in 
love. 

8.  A  Heavenly  Walk  or   Conduct, 
manifest  in  all  the  life. 

9.  A  Heavenly  Growth  to  the  ful- 
ness of  stature. 

10.  A  Heavenly  Strength  and  Power 
to  overcome. 

11.  A  Heavenly  Assurance  or  Seal- 
ing of  the  Spirit. 

12.  A  Heavenly  Security  within  the 
panoply  of  God. 


IV 


Summary  of  Teaching  in  Kpisti.E) 
TO  Kphksians. 

0\3T:  of  CHRxst, 


,foes. 


'ni,^ 


%. 


IN  CHRIST 

ASCENDED. 

p)xalted  to  heavenly  sphere  of 

Privilege  and  Blessing. 

One  with   God  and  with  All  Saints. 

Christ  the  Sphere  of  the  Heavenlies. 

New  Bond  of  Fellowship  with  all 

Holy  Being. 

Foretaste  of  Heaven. 

Filled  with  the  Spirit. 

Participation  of  Christ's 

ASCENSION  I,IFE, 

AND  Victory  over 
Principalities  and 

Powers.  v^  •'*'*' 

//Bu Z^^\^ 


t^ 


^'°amia.oj-s*«^"' 


Ipbillppfans  113 


THK  EPISTlvK    TO  THK    PHII.IPPIANS 

Observe  how  the  opening  verse  sal- 
utes all  the  saints  in  Christ  Jesus,  thus 
bringing  to  our  view  this  remarkable 
phrase  in  the  very  salutation  of  the  in- 
spired writer — the  inscription  on  the 
letter.  Immediately  after,  in  the  elev- 
enth verse,  we  have  the  chara(5leristic 
sentence  which  again,  as  a  key,  unlocks 
the  doors  of  this  epistle  :  '^Beiyig  filled 
with  the  fruits  of  righteousness  which 
are  by  Jesus  Christ  unto  the  glory  and 
praise  of  God." 

This  suggests  as  a  ruling  thought 
that  in  Christ  we  are  full  of  all  the  fruits 
of  such  abiding,  and  that  no  circum- 
stances can  destroy  our  fruitfulness, 
and,  among  other  fruits,  our  peace,  and 
rest,  and  joy  in  God.  This  is  the  divine 
idea  which  we  meet  at  every  turn. 


114  i[n  Cbriat  5e0U0 

So  soon  as  the  writer  corapletes  this 
initial  sentence  he  proceeds  to  illustrate 
its  truth  in  his  own  experience  of  trial. 
He  records  his  adverse  surroundings, 
which,  were  he  not  in  Christ,  would  be 
unbearable.  He  writes  as  one  who  is 
at  that  time  in  bonds  for  Christ  (i :  13), 
a  prisoner  at  Rome,  and  in  danger  of 
martyrdom.  And  yet  all  this  turns  to 
his  fuller  salvation,  and  even  to  the 
furtherance  of  the  Gospel.  His  fetters, 
instead  of  a  restraint,  are  made  to  ex- 
pand and  enlarge  his  service,  as  part 
of  his  privilege  to  suffer  for  His  sake 
(i  :  29),  and  even  to  witness  for  His 
truth ;  for,  as  he  was  chained  in  suc- 
cession to  soldiers  who  were  members 
of  the  Praetorian  guard,  he  took  oppor- 
tunity thus  to  spread  through  the 
whole  Prsetorium  the  good  tidings  of 
grace. 

In  the  second  chapter  he  enjoins  the 
Philippians  to  have  in  them  the  same 
mind  as  in  Christ  who  ' '  emptied ' '  Him- 


IPbllippians  115 


self,  and  became  obedient  unto  death, 
even  the  death  of  the  cross.  Then,  in 
chapter  iii,  the  opening  exhortation  is, 
''Rejoice  in  the  Lord,"  while  in  the 
third  verse  one  of  the  three  marks  of  the 
true  circumcision  is  that  we  ''rejoice 
in  Christ  Jesus."  This  chapter  is 
wholly  occupied  with  the  experimental 
illustration,  furnished  in  Paul's  own 
life,  of  how  a  man  who  is  in  Christ 
Jesus  finds  in  Him  the  sphere  of  his 
perfect  satisfadioyi.  For  Christ's  sake 
he  had  given  up  and  counted  as  loss 
whatever  he  had  previously  counted 
as  gain;  and  had  made  the  sacrifice  not 
grudgingly  or  of  necessity,  but  cheer- 
fully and  of  choice,  because  in  Christ 
he  had  found  such  full  compensation 
that  all  else  seemed  refuse,  to  be  trod- 
den under  foot.  The  world's  most 
precious  jewels,  the  diadems  which 
carnal  men  most  value,  seemed  to  him 
utterly  contemptible  beside  what  he 
perceived  and  received  in  Christ  Jesus. 


116  iTn  abrf6t  5e0U6 

The  epistle  we  are  now  examining 
is  like  one  long  song  in  the  night,  a  kind 
of  prolonged  echo  of  that  midnight 
prayer  and  praise  which  marked  Paul's 
first  experience  in  the  city  of  Philippi 
when,  in  answer  to  the  vision  of  the 
appeal  from  Macedonia,  he  had  hast- 
ened thither,  and  got,  as  his  reception, 
a  scourging,  a  thrusting  into  an  inner 
prison,  and  a  torturing  in  the  stocks. 
Yes,  the  man  who  sang  and  prayed  in 
that  inner  jail  is  the  man  who  in  this 
epistle,  a  prisoner  at  Rome,  sings, 
*  *  Rejoice  in  the  Lord,  alway !  and  again 
I  say.  Rejoice!  "     (Chapter  iv  :  4). 

If  this  epistle  has  any  special  key- 
note which  is  the  controlling  thought, 
in  all  these  melodies  of  a  holy  heart,  it 
is  this:  in  Christ  jksus  satisfied. 

If  the  studious  reader  of  the  New 
Testament  would  test  this  for  himself, 
let  him  take  the  fourth  chapter,  for 
example,  and  give  it  a  thorough 
examination.     It  will  be  found  to  con- 


IPbtUpplans  117 


tain  between  the  fourth  and  nine- 
teenth verses  at  least  seven  applica- 
tions and  illustrations  of  that  sub- 
lime injunction,  which  so  marks  not 
only  this  chapter,  but  the  whole 
epistle. 

lyct  us  keep  before  us  the  grand 
thought  that  evidently  was  the  domi- 
nant one  in  the  writer's  mind,  that  he 
who  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  has  entered 
into  the  sphere  of  complete  joy,  where 
he  finds  full  compensation  for  all  self- 
denials  and  sufferings.  Without  at- 
tempting to  import  any  thought  into 
this  chapter,  but  simply  to  discover 
what  is  there,  let  us  note  the  progress 
of  the  Spirit's  teaching. 

I .  If  we  are  in  Christ,  He  is  between 
us  and  all  our  hostile  surroundings. 
Perhaps,  like  Paul,  we  are  encompassed 
by  foes  and  what  men  call  fears,  adlu- 
ally  prisoners  for  the  Gospel's  sake 
with  martyrdom  in  prospedl.  What 
is  the  Spirit's  word  to  us  ?    "  I^et  your 


118  ffn  Cbrist  ^cens 

moderation   be   known  unto  all  men, 
the  lyord  is  at  hand. ' ' 

We  may  be  permitted  to  doubt 
whether  even  such  English  words 
adequately  render  the  brief  but  sublime 
original.  Let  your  mildness,  gentle- 
ness, forbearingness,  to  eTtieiue^y  be 
manifest  to  all  men  —  the  Lord  close 
by — very  near — (  syyv^).  This  latter 
expression  has  been  perhaps  hastily  ap- 
plied and  limited  to  the  Lord's  second 
coming.  But  may  the  thought  not  be 
even  more  comforting  than  this  ? 
When,  looking  at  your  human  environ- 
ment, you  find  cause  for  disquiet,  alarm, 
fear,  and  are  tempted  to  resistance  and 
self-defense  or  vindication,  God  says 
to  you,  let  your  forbearingness  be  mani- 
fest unto  all  men  —  remember  that  the 
Lord  himself  is  nearer  you  than  any- 
one else,  between  you  and  your  foes. 
They  can  not  come  within  the  sphere  of 
your  security,  nor  come  betv/een  3^ou 
and  Him.     Paul   himself  found  that 


IPbUlppfans  119 


when  all  men  forsook  him,  the  Lord 
stood  by  him  and  strengthened  him. 
And  no  man  perhaps  ever  lived,  whose 
peace  was  more  absolutely  uninter- 
rupted by  hostile  surroundings,  or 
whose  sense  of  his  Master's  close 
proximity  proved  more  absolutely 
satisfying  and  sufficient.  Are  you  in 
Christ  Jesus  ?  Remember  He  is  near, 
very  near,  next  you  in  respedl  to  inter- 
position, between  you  and  all  human 
foes. 

2.  If  you  are  in  Christ  Jesus,  you 
have  absolutely  no  cause  for  anxiety. 
**  Be  anxious  about  nothing,  but  in 
everything  by  prayer  and  supplication 
with  thanksgiving,  let  your  requests 
be  made  known  unto  God.  And  the 
peace  of  God,  which  passeth  all  under- 
standing, shall  guard  (as  a  garrison) 
your  hearts  and  minds  through  Christ 
Jesus."      (Verses  5  and  6.) 

In  their  way  no  more  striking  verses 
are  found  in  the  Word  of  God.    To  him 


120  irn  Cbrlst  ^csus 

who  is  in  Christ  Jesus  all  anxiety  is  a 
sin  ;  be  anxious  for  nothing.  There 
is  a  refuge  from  all  fretting  care  —  in 
everything  by  prayer  and  supplication. 
A  curious  triad  !  Anxiety  for  nothing  ! 
Thanksgiving  for  anything  !  Prayer- 
fulness  in  everything  !  And  instead 
of  anxious  care,  peace  which  passeth 
understanding  —  a  deep  abyss  of  per- 
plexity and  anxiety  exchanged  for  an 
unfathomable  deep  of  Divine  peace  — 
what  an  exchange  !  Christ,  the  sphere 
of  the  peace  of  God,  because  within 
that  sphere  is  the  God  of  Peace  (verse 
9).  The  sphere  of  our  satisfadlion 
and  compensation  and  consolation  is  a 
fortress  through  which  no  foe  can 
break  —  we  are  literally  garrisoned  by 
the  peace  of  God.  Be  anxious  for 
nothing  !  He  is  between  you  and  all 
care. 

Is  this  an  impracfticable  ideal  ?  I<et 
a  simple  illustration  help  us  to  see  how 
wholly  pra<5lical  and  prac5licable  this 


IPblUppfans  121 


divine  injunction  is.  There  is  a  vast 
difference  in  the  point  of  view  from 
which  circumstances  are  regarded.  If 
they  come  between  us  and  God  they 
may  hide  God  from  us  ;  if  He  comes 
between  us  and  them,  He  may  hide 
them  from  us,  or  even  impart  to  them, 
when  in  themselves  alone,  they  are 
dark  and  sad,  a  lustre  and  a  glory. 
When  the  moon  comes  dire(5lly  between 
the  earth  and  the  sun  it  may  totally 
eclipse  the  orb  of  day  ;  but  when  the 
earth  and  sun  are  in  another  relative 
position,  the  moon  is  at  the  full,  and 
becomes  not  an  obscurer  but  a  refle(5lor 
of  the  sun's  light.  Our  blessed  lyord 
would  have  us  so  abide  in  Him  that  all 
care  should  be  shut  out,  or  our  very 
anxieties  be  transfigured  into  occasions 
of  thanksgiving. 

3.  In  Christ  Jesus  you  have  2i  per- 
petual the^ne  of  most  exalted  thought^ 
and  a  perpetual  stimulus  to  holy  living, 
(verses  8,  9).     Paul  puts  before  us  on 


122  IFn  Cbrlst  5e0U0 

the  one  hand  whatsoever  things  are 
in  themselves  virtuous,  or  inherently 
desirable;  and  on  the  other  whatsoever 
things  are  of  good  report,  or  honorable 
and  influential  for  good  ;  and  he  bids 
us  think  on  these  things.  And  where 
shall  we  find  more  abundant  food  for 
such  thoughts  than  in  Christ  Jesus  — 
the  sphere  of  all  excellence?  What- 
soever is  true,  pure,  lovely  ;  whatso- 
ever is  honest,  just,  and  of  good  report 
may  be  found  in  Him  as  nowhere 
else.  And  he  who  is  in  Christ  Jesus, 
is  in  the  very  circle  and  sphere  of  such 
moral  and  spiritual  perfecftion.  All 
other  objedls  and  subjedls  of  thought 
are  shut  out  by  the  enamoring  vision  of 
His  loveliness.  When  we  refledl,  more- 
over, that  nothing  molds  chara(5ler  and 
condudl  like  the  obje(5ls  of  thought — 
that  to  them  we  are  always  assimilated, 
and  that  the  very  source  and  spring  of 
all  condu(5t  and  even  of  motive  is  found 
in  the  thoughts — it  will  be  readily  seen 


Ipbflfppfang  123 


that  it  is  of  the  highest  consequence 
that  we  be  insphered  in  Him  whose 
presence  makes  impossible  even  the 
conception  of  whatever  is  impure  or 
degrading.  Here  is  the  inspiration  to 
exalted  and  heavenly  refledlion,  medi- 
tation, and  assimilation.  Here  we  be- 
hold as  in  a  glass  the  glory  of  the  Lord 
and  are  changed  into  the  same  image 
from  glory  to  glory. 

4.  In  Christ  Jesus  we  find  the  secret 
of  perfect  contentment.  In  whatsoever 
external  state  we  are,  Christ  as  our 
sphere,  constitutes  our  true  internal 
state.  Complete  in  Him,  satisfied  in 
Him,  all  discontent  is  shut  outside  such 
a  sphere  of  life.  He  is  between  the 
believer  and  all  discontent.  When 
tempted  to  repine  and  murmur  at 
our  lot,  we  have  only  to  remember 
that  strictly  speaking  there  is  no  * '  lot ' ' 
—  no  chance  in  our  lives  —  that  every- 
thing is  arranged,  prearranged  for  our 
perfe(5ling  —  we  shall   be  more  than 


124  irn  Cbrfgt  5e6U5 

content,  we  shall  learn  to  rejoice  and 
glory  in  tribulation.  We  would  have 
our  condition  just  what  and  only  what 
He  wills.  Like  Pastor  Schmolke,  with 
fire  sweeping  over  his  parish,  death 
coming  into  his  home,  and  paralysis 
and  blindness  smiting  his  body,  one 
can  still  sing, 

"  My  Jesus,  as  Thou  Wilt." 

5.  In  Christ  Jesus,  the  believer  finds 
strength  for  all  things.  Christ  is  be- 
tween him  and  all  weakness  ;  and  he 
can  say,  * '  I  can  do  all  things  in  Christ 
who  strengtheneth  me. "  When  Paul 
confronted  the  thorn  in  the  flesh  and 
besought  the  Lord  thrice  that  it  might 
depart  from  him,  he  learned  that  great 
lesson  that  His  grace  was  sufficient  for 
him  ;  His  strength  is  made  perfedl 
in  weakness  —  notice  made  perfect  — 
not  only  made  manifest.  Had  God 
said  to  him,  * '  I  will  reveal  my  strength 
in  your  infirmity,"  it  would  have  been 
a  great  assurance  ;  but,  far  better  than 


pbdfppians  125 


this,  only  in  the  weakness  of  man 
can  God  display  the  perfectio7i  of  His 
strength.  The  weaker  we  are  and  feel 
ourselves  to  be,  the  stronger  He  can 
prove  himself  to  be;  so  that  only  when 
we  become  perfedlly  hopeless  and  help- 
less in  ourselves  and  absolutely  aban- 
don ourselves  to  Him,  can  He  fully 
and  perfedlly  glorify  His  own  grace. 
Omnipotence  needs  impotence  for  its 
sphere  of  working. 

6.  In  Christ  Jesus  we  learn  also  a  di- 
vine unselfishness,  all  selfish  motives  being 
displaced  by  a  noble  benevolence.  This 
thought  is  more  obscure  than  some 
others  in  this  chapter,  but  like  a  nugget 
of  gold  that  a  pickax  dislodges,  it  is 
none  the  less  valuable  because  it  needs 
a  little  search  to  detecft  it.  Twice  in 
this  triumphant  chapter  Paul  refers  to 
the  bounty  of  the  Philippians.  Once 
before,  and  again,  they  had  sent  to 
minister  to  his  necessity,  and  now  once 
more  through  Bpaphroditus.  Paul  was 


126  ITn  Cbrist  5e6U6 

a  prisoner  of  the  Ivord,  and  might  be 
supposed  keenly  to  feel  all  neglec5l,  and 
correspondingly  appreciate  all  care  for 
his  temporal  wants.  But,  although  in 
that  position  and  condition  where  tem- 
poral needs  are  greatest  and  temporal 
bounties  most  grateful,  we  see  in  this 
prisoner  of  the  lyord  not  a  trace  of 
jealousy  for  himself  and  his  own  comfort. 
*  ^Not  because  I  desire  a  gift,  but  I  de- 
sire fruit  that  may  abound  to  your  ac- 
count. ' ' 

Such  unselfishness  shines  with  a 
sublime  light  when  all  the  dark,  dismal 
surroundings  are  taken  into  considera- 
tion. Here  is  a  man  who  in  Christ 
Jesus  has  learned  to  be  so  content  that 
he  is  equally  happy  when  he  abounds 
and  when  he  suffers  need.  When, 
after  an  interval  of  seeming  forgetful- 
ness  and  negledl,  the  Philippian  disciples 
again  sent  their  gifts  to  relieve  his 
wants,  and  comfort  his  confinement,  he 
*'  rejoiced,"  but  not  at  any  increase  of 


pblUpplans  127 


personal  ease,  or  supply  of  personal 
want — no!  he  rejoiced  that  now  at  the 
last  their  care  of  him  had  again  flour- 
ished— the  word  literally  means  to  burst 
out  into  leaf  and  bloom — as  a  tree  in 
spring.  There  had  been  a  season  during 
which  they  seemed  barren  of  unselfish 
ministries  ;  but  now,  as  in  a  returning 
springtime  of  verdure  and  blossom, 
their  care  of  him  had  burst  into  beauty; 
and  he  rejoiced  at  their  gifts,  as  signs 
of  healthy  and  vigorous  life,  or  as  he 
says  later  (verse  1 8) ,  because  this  offer- 
ing to  him  was  a  sacrifice  acceptable, 
well  pleasing  to  God,  a  sweet  savor  of- 
fering; the  tree  by  bursting  again  into 
bloom  gave  forth  an  odor,  a  fragrance 
of  sweet  smell,  that  ascended  to  God  ! 
Paul  lost  all  sight  of  himself  in  his  holy 
jealousy  for  their  growth  in  grace,  and 
especially  in  the  consummate  grace  of 
giving!  Who  could  learn  such  un- 
selfishness and  self-oblivion  save  he 
who  in  Christ  Jesus  constantly  com- 


128  irn  Cbcfet  Jesus 

muned  with  the  One  God-man  who 
even  on  the  cross  forgot  His  agonies  in 
the  prayer  for  His  murderers,  and  who 
was  wilHng  to  bear  the  cross  and  ac- 
cept such  soul-travail  as  was  never 
known  before  nor  since,  if  He  might 
bring  many  souls  unto  glory  ? 

7.  Last  of  all,  in  Christ  Jesus  we  find 
every  need  supplied.  Christ  is  the  sphere 
of  God's  riches  in  glor>^  All  want  is 
outside  of  Him  ;  and  all  supplies  are 
found  in  Him. 

And  so  Christ  is  the  sevenfold 
sphere  of  the  believers'  satisfaction. 
He  is  between  us  and  all  hostile 
threats,  and  fears,  and  foes;  between 
us  and  all  anxieties  and  cares;  between 
us  and  all  unlovely  and  harmful 
thoughts;  between  us  and  all  murmurs 
of  discontent;  between  us  and  all  weak- 
ness and  failure;  between  us  and  all 
selfish  absorption  in  our  own  advan- 
tage; between  us  and  all  possible  need. 
Within   this  sphere  of  our  new  life, 


IPbilipplans  129 


if  our  faith  be  but  equal  to  its  perception 
and  reception,  we  shall  find  a  personal 
and  protedling  Presence  ever  at  hand; 
a  perfedl  peace,  passing  understanding; 
everything  lovely  and  of  good  report 
for  contemplation  and  assimilation;  all 
strength,  Divine  strength  perfected;  all 
serenity  and  contentment;  all  unselfish 
jealousy  for  others'  growth  in  grace, 
and  every  supply  for  every  need  of 
spirit,  soul,  and  body.  What  a  sphere 
of  satisfadlion  and  exultation ! 

This  epistle  especially  unfolds  to  us, 
and  emphasizes  for  us,  that  great  truth 
that  in  Christ  Jesus  we  have  a  sphere 
oipe-rfed  peace. 

How  much  we  need  it  and  how  far 
we  are  from  it,  in  our  ordinary  experi- 
ence, no  one  needs  to  be  told.  And  yet 
it  is  perfecflly  obvious  that  all  anxiety 
is  both  foolish  and  fatal  to  all  health 
of  body  or  of  mind.  It  can  not  avoid 
or  avert  any  certain  evil,  while  it  can 
crowd  the  unknown  future  with  imag- 


130  ifn  Cbrfst  5e0U0 

inary  and  uncertain  calamities  and  dan- 
gers, until  we  are  half  insane  with  the 
terrors  our  own  imagination  has  con- 
jured up.  Anxiety  thus  creates  false 
fears,  while  it  makes  real  calamities 
doubly  hard  to  bear.  Bven  science 
and  atheistic  worldly  wisdom  says : 
"  Be  anxious  about  nothing." 

* '  Modern  science  has  brought  to 
light  the  fadl  that  worry  will  kill,  and 
determines,  from  recent  discoveries, 
how  worry  kills.  Scores  of  deaths, 
set  down  to  other  causes,  are  due  to 
worry  alone.  Anxiety  and  care,  the 
fretting  and  chafing  of  habitual  worry, 
injure  beyond  repair  certain  cells  of  the 
brain,  which  being  the  nutritive  center 
of  the  body,  other  organs  become 
gradually  injured  ;  and  when  some 
disease  of  these  organs,  or  ailments 
arise,  death  finally  ensues.  Insidious- 
ly, worry  creeps  upon  the  brain  in 
the  form  of  a  single,  constant, 
never-lost  idea ;  and  as  the  dropping 


lPbf«ppfan6  131 


of  water  over  a  period  of  years  will 
wear  a  groove  in  a  stone,  so  worry, 
gradually,  imperceptibly,  but  no  less 
surely,  destroys  the  brain  cells  that 
are,  so  to  speak,  the  commanding  offi- 
cers of  mental  power,  health,  and  mo- 
tion. 

''Worry  is  an  irritant,  at  certain 
points,  producing  little  harm  if  it  comes 
at  intervals  or  irregularly.  But  against 
the  iteration  and  reiteration  of  one 
idea  of  a  disquieting  sort  the  cells  of 
the  brain  are  not  proof.  It  is  as  if  the 
skull  were  laid  bare,  and  the  surface 
of  the  brain  struck  lightly  with  a 
hammer  every  few  seconds,  with 
mechanical  precision,  with  never  a 
sign  of  a  let-up  or  the  failure  of  a 
stroke.  Just  in  this  way  does  the 
annoying  idea,  the  maddening  thought 
that  will  not  be  done  away  with,  strike 
or  fall  upon  certain  nerve  cells,  never 
ceasing,  and  week  by  week,  diminish- 
ng  the  vitality  of  these  delicate  organ- 


132  ifn  Cbrfst  Jcem 

isms,  so  minute  that  they  can  only  be 
seen  under  the  microscope. ' ' 

Do  not  worry.  Do  not  hurry.  *  *  Let 
your  moderation  be  known  to  all  men. ' ' 
Court  the  fresh  air  day  and  night. 
Sleep  and  rest  abundantly.  Sleep  is 
nature's  benedic5lion.  Spend  less  nerv- 
ous energy  each  day  than  you  make. 
Be  cheerful.  ' '  A  light  heart  lives 
long. ' '  Think  only  healthful  thoughts. 
"  As  a  man  thinketh  in  his  heart,  so  he 
is. "  "  Seek  peace  and  pursue  it. " 
Avoid  passion  and  excitement.  Asso- 
ciate with  healthy  people.  Health  is 
contagious  as  well  as  disease.  Don't 
carry  the  whole  world  on  your 
shoulders,  far  less  the  universe. 
''Trust  in  God  and  do  the  right." 
Never  despair.  * '  Lost  hope  is  a  fatal 
disease. "  "  If  ye  know  these  things 
happy  are  ye  if  ye  do  them." 

If  such  be  the  voice  of  worldly  wis- 
dom, let  us  listen  to  the  wisdom  that 
is   from  above.     And  remember  the 


pbillppfans  133 


sublime  saying  of  the  sainted  George 
Miiller.  When  his  helpers  were  asked 
how  they  could  account  for  the  fa<5l 
that  his  serene  calm  was  undisturbed 
when,  with  two  thousand  orphans  to 
clothe  and  feed,  there  was  neither  food 
in  the  larder  nor  money  in  the  bank, 
and  his  one  resort  was  prayer  —  the 
answer  was,  that  it  could  be  accounted 
for  only  on  his  own  philosophy  : 
Where  anxiety  begins,  faith  ends; 
And  where  faith  begins,  anxiety  ends. 


V 


Summary  of  Tkaching  in  Kpisti^e: 

TO    THE    PhILIPPIANS. 


0\3'^  OF  CHRisj, 

IN  CHRIST 
SATISFIED. 
Christ  the  Sphere  of  Per 
FECT  Compensation  and  Supreme 
Satisfaction. 
Gain  for  All  I^oss,  Joy  in  the  Lord. 
Perfect  Peace  in  All  Circumstances. 
Strength  for  All  Duties,  Content- 
ment IN  Every  State,  and  Supply  op 
Every  Need. 
Present  Fellowship  in  Christ's 
Sufferings. 
Future  Fellowship  in  His 
Resurrection. 
'^  .\^         To  I,ive  is  Christ,         ^  <•* 


\ 


'J'^JS^     To  Die  is  Gain.    ^^ ^' 


.,»»-*' 


ColO00ian0  137 


VI 


Tun  KPISTLK    TO    THK    COI.OSSIANS 

In  Colossians  again  we  meet  the 
phrase,  in  Christ  Jesus,  in  the  very- 
salutation,  i :  2.  And  in  the  prayer  that 
immediately  follows,  that  ye  might  be 
filled  with  the  knowledge  of  His  will, 
etc.      (Tt\i]pGoBrfTe.^ 

Here  we  first  strike  the  great  word 
of  this  epistle,  which  is  nTirjpao^a — an 
untranslatable  word. 

The  substance  of  the  teaching  of 
Colossians  is  this  :  In  Christ  Jesus  we 
have  the  pleroma  of  God.  This  idea 
is  inwrought  into  the  strudlure  of 
the  epistle  and  curiously  into  its  lan- 
guage.* 


*  We  meet  here  and  there  words  into  which  the  root 
irXi7po(i>  enters  :  rr\y\poi9riTe,  i  :  9.  irav  to  nkrjpMfjia,  i  :  19, 
2  :  9.  avravaTrXrjpoi,  i  :  24.  TrArjpaxrai,  to  fulfil  the  word, 
i  :  25.    TrXrjpoi^opia?,  2  :  2,  full  assurance.     Tren-Ar/pw/aei/ot. 

10,  complete.    TrejrATjpo^oprj/nei'oi,  iv :  12,  complete  in 
full  measure. 


138  f  n  Cbrfet  5e6U0 

The  idea  is  that  all  this  divine  ful- 
ness dwells  in  Him,  and  may  dwell  in 
us  by  our  dwelling  in  Him. 

This  introduces  us  to  the  Power  and 
Perfection  of  Christ,  as  the  sphere  of  our 
New  Life :  in  him,  complete. 

Here,  as  in  Bphesians,  there  are  ten 
blessings  that  are  already  ours,  and 
one  that  is  to  be  ours  at  His  coming. 
And  it  is  curious  to  compare  the  ten 
things  of  Bphesians,  with  those  of 
this  epistle  : 

EPH^SIANS.  COI.OSSIANS. 

CHOSEN.  ROOTED. 

PREDESTINATED.  BUILT  UP. 

ACCEPTED.  ESTABLISHED, 

REDEEMED.  FILLED    FULL. 

FORGIVEN.  CIRCUMCISED. 

QUICKENED.*  BURIED. 

RAISED.*  QUICKENED.* 

SEATED.*  RISEN.* 

SEALED.  SEATED.  * 

OBTAINED   INHERITANCE.  HID. 

TO  BE  GATHERED  IN  ONE.  TO  BE  MANIFESTED. 

Three  in  both  lists  are  alike  (which 
we  mark  with  an  asterisk),  all  the  rest 
are  unlike;  but  in  Bphesians  the  list 
has  reference  to  oneness  of  saints  in 
Christ  and  the   present   privilege  of 


Colosslana  139 


life  in  Him;  in  Colossians,  to  the  com- 
pleteness of  all  and  every  believer  in 
Him,  and  the  perfedlion  and  power 
which  are  realized  in  Christ. 

Hence  the  same  figure  in  both  epis- 
tles: Christ  the  Head  of  Body;  there 
with  reference  to  unity,  and  here,  to 
vitality.  The  ruling  thought  then  in 
this  epistle  is  found  in  the  fulness  of 
Christ,  as  the  sphere  of  our  life.  He 
is  filled  with  God,  and  in  Him  we  also 
are  filled  with  God.  In  fadl  the  word, 
pleroma,  as  already  remarked,  can  not 
be  translated.  It  means  more  than 
fulness.  It  is  a  term  used  by  philoso- 
phy, and  borrowed  by  Paul  from  philo- 
sophic authors.  They  claimed  to  know 
the  secret  of  something  that  filled  up 
all  human  deficiency — a  plenitude  of 
knowledge  and  power.  Paul  claims 
that  in  Christ  the  true  pleroma  is  found: 
that  He  as  the  Son  of  God  has  all  the 
plenitude  of  the  godhead  in  Him,  in 
full  measure,  and  running  over — and 


140  fn  Cbrfst  5CSU0 

so,  if  we  are  in  Him,  all  that  Divine 
pleroma  becomes  ours.  Whatever  per- 
fedlion  is  in  God,  in  His  knowledge, 
power,  strength,  wisdom,  love,  holi- 
ness, thus  fills  up  to  the  full  our  meas- 
ure of  capacity. 

In  the  light  of  this  truth  the  whole 
epistle  becomes  luminous.  1:27.  Paul 
speaks  of  the  riches  of  the  glory  of  this 
mystery — which  is  Christ  in  you,  the 
hope  of  glory;  and  in  Verse  28  :  That 
we  may  present  every  man  perfedl  in 
Christ  Jesus. 

Again  in  i  :  19.  It  pleased  the 
Father  that  in  Him  should  all  the  ple- 
roma dwell. 

ii :  3.  In  Whom  are  hid  all  the  trea- 
sures of  wisdom  and  knowledge. 

ii  :  6,7.  As  ye  have  received  Christ 
Jesus  the  Lord,  so  walk  in  Him,  rooted 
and  built  up  in  Him  and  stablished  in 
the  faith. 

Note  particularly  verses  8,  9,  etc., 
as  the  heart  of  the  epistle.      He  warns 


Golo66ian6  141 


against  philosophy,  which  holds  out 
its  false  pleroma,  and  says :  In  Him 
dwelleth  all  the  pleroma  of  the  god- 
head bodily,  and  ye  have  the  pleroma 
in  Him. 

If  the  word  pleroma  is  untranslat- 
able, what  shall  we  say  of  the  thought 
of  the  epistle !  What  words  shall  ade- 
quately translate  such  a  conception  into 
human  language,  or  convey  it  to  hu- 
man minds!  It  is  the  same  essential 
idea  as  that  which  seeks  expression  in 
that  last  and  greatest  parable  ever 
spoken  by  our  I^ord:  The  vine  and  the 
branches.  There  several  words  form 
the  salient  points  of  thought,  arresting 
attention  :  Vine,  branch,  and  fruit; 
abide ^  ask  ;  love,  joy.  The  grand 
word  of  the  seven  is  abidk,  and  the 
grand  lesson  is  absolute  and  perpetual 
dependence  on  the  one  hand,  and  per- 
fe(5l  and  perpetual  fulness  of  blessing 
on  the  other.  Let  us  remember  that 
in  the  vine  dwells  all  vegetable  fulness, 


142  iTn  Cbrlst  5esu0 

all  the  fulness  of  soil  and  sap,  of  life  and 
strength;  and  that  the  branch  abides  in 
the  vine  that  it  may  be  filled  with  all 
the  fulness  of  the  vine.  Branch  life, 
like  limb  life  in  the  body,  can  never 
become  independent.  The  child  may 
outgrow  the  mother's  care,  and  sup- 
port and  nourish  the  parent;  but  the 
branch  can  never  outgrow  its  depend- 
ence, nor  can  the  limb  ever  become 
independent  of  the  body.  The  same 
in  nature  and  nurture,  in  root  and  soil 
and  sap,  in  life  and  growth,  the  very 
leaves,  blooms,  clusters  of  the  branch 
are  the  leaves,  blooms,  and  clusters  of 
the  vine.  It  is  the  full  life  of  the  vine, 
pushing  its  way  through  the  branch's 
channels,  that  exhibits  itself  in  every 
new  twig,  bud,  flower,  grape;  and,  as 
the  grape  rounds  out  into  luscious  ful- 
ness, it  is  the  vine  which  imparts  its 
own  fulness  in  the  juice  and  color  and 
perfedtion  of  the  cluster.  The  disciple 
abides  in  Christ,  and   so   his   asking 


ColO00fan6  143 


becomes  Christ's  asking;  his  love  and 
joy  are  in  fa(5l  Christ's  love  and  joy- 
abiding  in  him  and  filling  him.  So 
what  in  the  parable  is  suggested 
or  enfolded,  is,  in  this  epistle,  un- 
folded. In  Him  dwelleth  all  the  ful- 
ness of  the  godhead  bodily  and  sub- 
stantially, and  we  are  filled  full  in 
Him  of  the  same  pleroma  of  God. 
The  thought  is  inexpressible.  Even 
the  Holy  Ghost  finds  no  intelligible 
terms  to  convey  it;  all  attempts  are  like 
groanings  unutterable. 

The  ten  or  eleven  specific  statements 
of  what  the  disciple  has  in  Christ,  all 
have  reference  to  this  pleroma  or  ful- 
ness of  power  and  perfe(5lion.  We  are 
rooted  in  Him — and  so  like  a  plant  we 
have  fulness  of  strength  and  life — so 
well  expressed  by  the  roots  which  take 
fast  hold  on  the  soil  and  absorb  what- 
ever promotes  growth  and  strength. 

We  are  built  up  in  Him — like  the 
building  which  gets  stability  from  its 


144  ITn  Cbr!6t  ^cb\x6 

rock  foundation,  and  beauty  and  com- 
pleteness as  carried  on  to  completion. 

When  we  are  taught  that  in  Him 
we  are  circumcised,  buried,  made  alive, 
risen,  seated,  hid  in  God,  and  to  be 
manifested  when  He  is — one  of  the 
greatest  thoughts  of  the  Word  is  put 
before  us.  Christ  is  the  great  Represe^i- 
tative  Man — the  second  and  Last  Adam, 
the  Son  of  Man.  All  that  He  experi- 
enced, from  His  miraculous  conception 
to  His  session  at  God's  right  hand,  is 
representative — that  is,  it  is  in  our 
behalf,  typical  as  well  as  historical, 
and  we  are  to  look  upon  ourselves  as 
going  through  all  these  experiences 
in  Him.  When  Adam  was  on  trial,  the 
whole  race  he  represented  was  on  trial, 
and  his  fall  was  representative.  When 
Christ  was  on  trial,  it  was  a  represen- 
tative of  the  race — the  Last  Adam — 
who  was  tempted,  and  triumphed. 
God  in  Christ  sees  us,  who  believe, 
victorious  over  the  devil  and   Death, 


Colossfans  145 


the  world  and  the  flesh.  It  is  a  great 
mystery  of  Grace;  but  in  Him  we  were 
circumcised,  and  put  away  fleshly  lusts 
— in  Him  buried,  that  the  old  corrupt 
nature  might  be  left  in  the  tomb,  and 
in  Him  by  the  Holy  Ghost  we  were 
made  alive  unto  God,  raised  to  live  a 
new  life,  by  His  power  lifted  to  the 
heavenly  sphere  of  life;  so  that  now  our 
real  life  is  not  that  which  is  seen.  It 
is  a  hidden  life.  The  world  knows  us 
not,  because  it  knew  Him  not.  The 
springs  of  our  true  life  are  in  Him,  and 
in  heaven.  This  thought  is  not  capable 
of  conveyance  by  human  language  or 
illustration.  Zechariah  seeks  to  fore- 
cast it  in  the  vision  of  the  Golden 
Candlestick,  whose  lamps  are  fed 
through  golden  pipes  from  the  two  liv- 
ing olive  trees .  Every  disciple  is  united 
to  Christ  by  unseen  channels,  and  the 
life  we  live  is  by  the  faith  of  the  Son 
of  God — as  the  branch  receives  life  from 
the  vine,  or  the  plant  from  the  sun  and 


146  iTn  Cbrlst  5esu0 

air  of  heaven.  Every  day  of  holy  living 
is  a  day  of  living  contacft  with  the  invisi- 
ble world  and  the  unseen  God — Heav- 
en's power  communicated  to  earthly 
beings.  And  not  until  Christ  is  mani- 
fested, coming  out  of  His  long  hiding 
beside  the  Father,  will  this  hidden  life 
of  ours  appear.  When  He  is  manifested 
in  glory  with  His  resurredlion  body, 
and  ours  is  made  like  unto  His  and  we 
are  seen  bearing  His  perfecft  likeness, 
it  will  be  seen  that  all  this  is  absolutely 
true;  as  He  is,  so  are  we  in  this  world. 
Christ  came  to  do  God's  will,  and 
took  in  His  incarnation  a  body  pre- 
pared for  Him,  and  in  a  higher  sense, 
another  body — the  Church — after  His 
resurredlion.  This  body  is  thus  seated 
with  Him  in  the  heavenlies,  and  all  ene- 
mies are  to  become  the  footstool  of  Christ 
and  His  mystical  body,  bruised  under 
His  feet.  We  have  a  right  in  Him  to 
this  exalted  seat  in  the  heavenlies,  and 
to   sit  down  with   Him   in  peace,  as 


Col06d{an6  147 


those  who  have  the  sense  of  a  finished 
work  and  completed  conquest,  hence- 
forth in  Him  expe<5ling — anticipating, 
that  all  foes  will  be  made  our  footstool. 
So  far  as  we  can  take  this  in  by  faith, 
they  are  already  subdued.  He  says,  to 
every  believer  who  can  receive  it, 
*'  '  Stretch  forth  thy  withered  hand  !  ' 
and  henceforth  to  find  restored  faculties 
for  holy  work;  '  Rise,  take  up  thy  bed, 
thou  paralytic!  '  henceforth  to  find 
power  to  walk  with  God;  'Woman, 
thou  art  loosed  from  thine  infirmity! ' 
henceforth  be  erecft  and  upright  and  no 
longer  bowed  down  and  bent  into  de- 
formity by  Satan." 

The  greatest  difiiculty  to-day  among 
us  believers  is  that  we  have  no  true 
apprehension  of  the  adlual  present  ful- 
ness, the  pleroma  of  divine  power,  wis- 
dom, strength,  vi(5lory,  which  is  in 
God  for  us,  and  may  be  found  in  Christ, 
as  the  sphere  of  our  full  life  and  energy. 
There  is  the  secret  of  all  failure  :  we  do 


148  -ffn  Cbrl5t  5e0U0 

not  avail  ourselves  of  this  fulness  of 
God.  We  do  not  pradlically  believe 
our  high  calling,  nor  perceive  the  riches 
of  the  glory  of  God's  inheritance  in  the 
saints,  and  consequently  the  exceeding 
greatness  of  His  power  to  usward  who 
believe — the  standard  of  which  is  the 
working  of  that  omnipotence  in  Christ, 
when  God  raised  Him  from  the  dead 
and  seated  Him  at  His  own  right  hand 
in  the  heavenlies.  Oh,  the  unclaimed 
riches  of  the  believer  in  Christ  Jesus! 

This  pleroma  may  be  viewed  in  two 
aspe(5ls,  and  is  so  presented  in  this 
epistle:  The  completeness  in  Christ, 
first,  as  my  representative  before 
God;  and,  secondly,  as  God's  represen- 
tative before  me. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  He  is 
both  the  Son  of  Man  and  the  Son  of 
God,  and  perfedl  in  both  relations. 

It  is  a  curious  facfl,  showing  the  mar- 
velous completeness  also  of  the  teach- 
ing whereby  this  truth  is   presented, 


ColO00(an0  149 


that  there  are  but  two  cases  in  this 
epistle  where  this  word,  pleroma,  recurs, 
and  they  mark  the  divisions  of  thought 
we  are  now  considering.  Chap,  i:  19. 
It  pleased  the  Father  that  in  Him 
should  all  fulness  dwell .  This  is  spoken 
of  Him  as  Head  of  the  body^  the  Churchy 
which  is  a  human  institution,  composed 
of  redeemed  sons  of  men.  Chap,  ii :  9. 
For  in  Him  dwelleth  all  the  fulness  of 
the  godhead  bodily.  Here  the  state- 
ment is  made  as  to  His  relation  to  the 
godhead,  not  manhood. 

In  Him  we  are  circumcised,  buried, 
risen,  seated  at  God's  right  hand;  that 
is  said  of  Him  as  my  representative; 
what  is  true  of  the  Head  of  the  body,  is 
true  of  the  body  whose  head  He  is. 

But,  when  we  are  told  that  in  Him 
we  have  redemption,  that  by  Him  God 
reconciles  all  things  to  Himself;  that 
in  Him  are  hid  all  the  treasures  of  wis- 
dom and  knowledge,  it  is  manifest  that 
the  fulness  of  God  toward  us  is  meant. 


150  f  n  Cbrfat  Jesus 

These  two  thoughts  may  find  an 
imperfect  illustration  in  an  advocate 
at  court.  Let  us  suppose  a  very  difii- 
cult  case  at  law,  but  on  which  every- 
thing hangs,  property,  reputation,  char- 
acter, life.  I  secure  the  services  of  the 
most  competent  and  eminent  of  law- 
yers. Now,  what  does  he  do  ?  First, 
he  represents  my  case  before  the  court, 
but  he  also  represents  the  court  before 
me.  He  could  not  take  my  case  in 
charge  if  he  did  not  understand  my  case 
perfedlly,  nor  could  he  if  he  did  not 
understand  the  law  perfe(5lly.  Christ 
is  my  advocate  before  God,  for  He  is 
the  Son  of  Man  and  understands  me; 
He  is  the  Son  of  God  and  understands 
Him  ;  and  being  perfedl  in  both  rela- 
tions, He  becomes  my  Mediator;  in  Him 
I  have  a  perfedl  representative  god- 
ward,  and  God  has  a  perfedl  represen- 
tative manward. 

The  pradlical  bearing  of  this  double 
truth  is  immense;  a  whole  lifetime  will 


(IoI066{and  151 


give  us  but  a  glimpse  of  the  infinite 
value  of  such  a  Savior.  As  son  of  man 
everything  about  His  human  charadler 
and  life  has  reference  to  the  believer. 
As  He  is,  so  are  we  in  this  world. 
Because  I  believe  in  Him,  and  am 
united  to  Him,  all  His  experiences  be- 
come my  own.  His  sinless  perfecflion, 
His  divine  patience.  His  holy  obedi- 
ence. His  triumph  over  Satan,  are  im- 
puted to  me:  in  Him  I  am  presented  as 
perfedl  before  God.  But,  as  Son  of  God, 
whatever  He  is  to  me,  God  is.  I  am  to 
know  the  mind  and  heart  and  disposition 
of  God  toward  me  by  knowing  Christ's 
attitude  toward  me,  because  as  He  is, 
so  is  God  in  Heaven.  Hence  He  said 
to  Philip  :  ' '  Have  I  been  so  long  time 
with  you,  and  yet  hast  thou  not  known 
Me,  Philip?  He  that  hath  seen  Me, 
hath  seen  the  Father;  and  how  sayest 
thou  then.  Show  us  the  Father? " 

In  this  Epistle  to  the  Colossians  we 
reach  almost  the  climax  of  the  Scrip- 


152  iTn  Cbctst  5esu6 

ture  teaching  about  the  second  and  last 
Adam.  Four  or  five  passages  need  to 
be  carefully  studied  by  those  who  would 
take  in  the  full  meaning  of  this  won- 
derful teaching:  Psalm  viii,  compared 
with  Hebrews  ii :  6-18,  Romans  v  :  12- 
21;  I.  Cor.  XV  :  21-28,  and  45-49;  and 
the  Epistles  to  the  Kphesians  and  the 
Colossians.  In  the  Epistle  to  the  Ro- 
mans, Adam  is  the  figure  of  the  Com- 
ing One.  V :  14.  In  I.  Corinthians, 
He  is  the  Lord  of  resurre(5lion  life  and 
vidtory.  In  the  Epistles  to  the  Ephe- 
sians  and  Colossians,  He  is  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  believer  in  His  whole 
human  and  heavenly  experience.  He 
stands  in  his  stead,  and  in  His  own 
miraculous  birth,  circumcision,  bap- 
tism, temptation,  crucifixion,  burial, 
resurredlion,  ascension,  session  at  God's 
right  hand,  and  coming  again,  the 
believer  may  see,  set  forth,  his  own 
regeneration,  separation  unto  God,  con- 
fession of  faith,  conquest  over  Satan, 


(IOlO66fan0  153 


satisfaction  of  legal  penalty,  life  in  the 
Spirit,  exaltation  to  heavenly  privilege, 
and  inheritance  of  final  glory. 

This  prepares  for  the  absolute  climax 
of  this  teaching  in  Hebrews  ii,  where 
we  see  Jesus  Christ,  finally  exalted  to 
universal  dominion,  and,  in  Him^  the 
redeemed  Adamic  race  once  more  raised 
to  the  throne  and  scepter.  The  Eighth 
Psalm  is  not  to  be  fulfilled  in  the  first 
Adam,  whose  fall  wrecked  all  his  pros- 
pedls  of  sovereignty,  until  the  second 
Adam  restores  the  ruins  of  the  first, 
and  gives  lost  man  his  true  seat  at 
God's  right  hand. 


VI 


Summary  of  Teaching  in  Epistlk 
TO  THE  Colossi ANS. 


CHRJ5J, 


^w\n,        Inco 


•"•P/e/, 


IN   CHRIST 

COMPLETE 

Christ  the  Sphere  of  the  Trite 

Pleroma  or  Fulness  of  God. 

Believers,  in  Him,  Already  Seated 

AT  God's  Right  Hand. 
Identified  with  Christ  and  in  Him 

WITH  God. 
Partaking  of  the  Divine  Fulness 
WHICH  Dwells  in  Him. 
Our  Life  Now  a  Hidden  Life  in 
Him 
Awaiting  His  Mani- 
festation. 


''/fe 


^''^^^nuappjH-'^^'^^ 


.«>^' 


.nV 


XLbceealoninne  157 


VII 

THE)  KPISTlvKS  TO  THK  THKSSAI^ONIANS 

The  keynote  of  both  of  these  letters 
is  promptly  struck  in  the  third  verse 
of  the  first  chapter,  in  the  phrase, 
patience  of  hope  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
Here  we  are  turned  toward  the  future, 
the  second  coming  of  Him  in  Whom 
we  find  the  sphere  of  our  final  triumph 
over  all  foes.  Hope  looks  forward  to  the 
future  and  fixes  its  gaze  on  this  con- 
summation, and  hence  becomes  the  pro- 
found secret  oi patience  in  present  trials. 
The  same  blessed  thought  reappears  in 
verses  9,  10.  ^''  To  serve  the  living 
God,  and  to  wait  for  His  Son  from 
heaven. '  * 

These  two  epistles  therefore  carry  us 
to  the  climax  of  the  glorious  truth 
which  has  lifted  us  to  higher  and  higher 


158  ITn  Cbrist  ^esus 

elevations,  as  we  have  gone  from  sum- 
mit to  summit  in  studying  this  prog- 
ress of  docftrine;  here  the  Holy  Spirit 
gives  us  a  glimpse  of  our  final,  ulti- 
mate, and  complete  vi(5lory  in  Christ 
over  all  enemies  and  all  trials. 

It  will  be  remembered  that,  in  the 
Epistles  to  the  Ephesians  and  the  Co- 
lossians,  we  found  one  blessed  privilege 
to  lie  in  the  future:  in .  the  former,  our 
gathering  together  unto  Him;  and  in 
the  latter,  our  manifestation  in  Him. 
Here  we  are  emphatically  reminded  of 
His  reappearing,  at  which  time  this 
gathering  together  of  all  saints  is  to 
take  place  about  the  very  Head  of  the 
mystical  body;  and  their  manifestation 
in  Him,  because  He  himself  is  to  be 
manifested  in  glory. 

The  Holy  Spirit  guides  the  pen  of 
Paul  to  write  of  these  two  future  and 
crowning  relations  of  blessing  that  yet 
await  all  God's  saints.  Comp.  II. 
Thess.,  ii ;  I,  $,     "By  our  gathering 


^beasaloniana  159 

together  unto  Him,"  and,  "  the  bright- 
ness of  His  coming  " — the  epiphany  of 
His  Parousia.  Here  we  have  both 
thoughts;  and  in  fadl  both  are  found 
in  the  one  verse  which  opens  second 
chapter:  '*  Now  we  beseech  you, 
brethren,  by  the  coming  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christy  and  by  our  gathering 
together  unto  Him.''^ 

To  get  even  a  glimpse  of  this  truth, 
we  must  first  know  what  is  included  in 
this  second  advent  of  the  Son  of  God, 
as  it  is  set  forth  in  these  two  letters  to 
Thessalonica.  We  present  the  follow- 
ing as  a  partial  analysis  of  their 
contents,  but  sufficient  to  hint  at  the 
wealth  of  suggestion  herein  to  be  dis- 
covered: 

1.  The  reward  of  service.  I.,ii:i9. 
For  what  is  our  hope,  or  joy,  or  crown 
of  rejoicing?  Are  not  even  ye  in  the 
presence  of  our  I^ord  Jesus  Christ  at 
His  coming  ? 

2.  The  final  perfe(5lion  in  holiness. 


160  irn  Cbrlst  5esu6 

I.,  iii :  13.     Unblamable  in  holiness  at 
the  coming,  etc. 

3.  The  reunion  of  departed  and  sur- 
viving saints.     I.,  iv  :  13-18. 

4.  The  triumph  over  death  in  the 
resurre(5lion  of  the  dead  and  the  trans- 
lation and  transformation  of  the  living. 
Ibid.  16,  17. 

5.  The  final  consummation  of  salva- 
tion. Living  together  with  Him,  for- 
evermore.     Ibid.  17. 

6.  The  avenging  of  saints  upon  all 
adversaries.     I.,  v  :  9;  II.,  i  :  7-10. 

7.  The  ultimate  gathering  together 
unto  Him.     II.,  ii :  i. 

8.  The  destrudlion  of  the  man  of 
sin.     II.,  ii :  8. 

9.  The  obtaining  of  the  glory  of  our 
I^ord  Jesus  Christ.     II.,  ii  :  14. 

10.  The  final,  eternal  glorification 
of  saints  in  Him.     Ibid.  16. 

When  Christ  comes  again  to  com- 
plete our  salvation,  there  will  be  at  least 
a  fourfold  triumph: 


Q^bessalonlans  161 

1.  Over  sin,  in  unblamable  holiness. 

2.  Over  suffering,  endured  at  the 
hands  of  the  wicked. 

3.  Over  death,  in  resurredlion  and 
translation. 

4.  Over  Antichrist  and  the  devil. 
And  in  this  triumph  the  saints  are 

to  be  in  every  respect  copartakers  with 
Christ.  His  triumph  is  theirs,  and  His 
joy  is  theirs. 

Only  in  this  grand  consummation 
will  it  be  possible  to  understand  what 
it  is  to  be  in  Christ  Jesus.  In  our  present 
experience  several  necessary  hindrances 
exist  to  our  full  realization  of  the  bless- 
edness of  our  estate  in  Him. 

I .  First ,  All  this  sphere  pertains  to  the 
invisible.  We  as  yet  belong  to  a  material 
and  temporal  order.  Things  visible  and 
sensible  appeal  to  us,  because  our  phys- 
ical senses  are  on  the  alert  to  receive 
impression.  We  walk  by  sight  natur- 
ally and  inevitably;  and  the  unseen  and 
eternal  can  be  apprehended  and  appre- 


162  ITn  Cbrl0t  5e6U0 

dated  only  in  part,  dimly,  even  by  those 
whose  inner  spiritual  senses  are  exer- 
cised to  discern  good  and  evil.  To  see 
the  visible  we  need  only  to  open  our 
natural  eyes — it  is  easier  to  keep  them 
open  than  shut,  and  to  walk  by  sight 
requires  no  e£fort.  But  to  see  the  in- 
visible and  feel  the  power  of  the  eternal, 
is  not  natural  nor  easy;  it  requires 
sedulous  and  constant  effort — the  daily 
divScipline  of  our  higher  senses.  These 
things  evade  and  escape  us  if  we  are 
careless,  nay,  unless  we  are  most 
prayerful  and  careful;  and  at  times  the 
most  devout  and  circumspe(5l  believer 
loses  the  vision  of  their  entrancing 
loveliness,  preciousness,  and  glory,  and 
sets  his  eye  on  the  lower  good  that 
seems  so  much  easier  both  to  see  and 
grasp.  But  when  Christ  comes  again 
and  is  manifested.  He  will  be  revealed, 
and  all  our  being  will  be  filled  with  the 
enamoring  sense  of  his  reality,  and  we 
shall  never  lose  sight  of  Him   more. 


tTbessalonians  163 

The  now  unseen  and  eternal  will  then 
be  as  vividly  real  as  any  objecfls  of 
sight  or  sense. 

2.  Secondly,  This  sphere  of  our  life 
in  Christ  is  now  of  necessity  partial. 
We  are  in  this  world,  however  little  we 
may  be  ^  it,  and  we  can  not  escape 
more  or  less  of  its  contact,  however  free 
from  its  contamination .  Our  enj  oyment 
of  Christ  is  interrupted  by  earthly  and 
carnal  surroundings,  even  when  the 
lower  cravings  are  subdued.  From 
time  to  time  we  are  recalled  to  a  painful 
sense  of  the  facfl  that  sin  is  in  us,  how- 
ever free  we  may  be  from  sins  and  sin- 
ning. We  are  compassed  about  with 
infirmity  of  body,  mind,  and  will;  and 
the  thorn  in  the  flesh  can  not  be  wholly 
forgotten  even  in  the  all-sufficient  grace. 
The  weakness  is  there,  even  while  the 
strength  is  made  perfe(5l,  for  that  is  the 
condition  of  its  perfedl  exhibition  and 
manifestation.  Perhaps  it  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  perfedl  enjoyment  of 


164  -ffn  Cbri6t  ^eeue 

God  is  impossible,  for  our  condition  and 
characSter  are  yet  imperfecfl  or  unper- 
fedl.  How  different  when  the  last  bond 
is  broken,  the  last  tie  severed,  and  we 
are  free  to  be  only  in  Christy  not  even 
the  body  longer  hindering  our  perfecfl 
resemblance  to  Him  and  perfect  com- 
munion with  Him !  What  approxima- 
tion to  perfec5lion  may  be  possible,  prob- 
ably no  saint  has  yet  known  or  shown; 
doubtless  greater  measures  of  resem- 
blance to  Him  and  more  complete  ab- 
sorption in  Him  are  possible  and  prac- 
ticable than  any  saint  has  ever  yet  ex- 
perienced; but  it  is  plain  that  we  must 
wait  until  He  comes,  and  we  meet  Him 
face  to  face,  and  with  bodies  fashioned 
like  unto  His,  ourselves  without  blem- 
ish, as  He  is,  before  our  inspherement 
in  Him  can  reach  its  completeness. 

3.  Thirdly,  Our  sphere  of  life  in 
Christ  is  now  coyitested.  We  are  in  the 
midst  of  adversaries,  and  sometimes 
their  presence  is  more  vividly  and  aw- 


XTbessalonlans  165 

fully  real  to  us  than  that  of  our  Advo- 
cate. Without  are  fightings,  within  are 
fears.  However  secure  in  Christ,  we 
feel  the  danger  to  be  constant  and  im- 
minent. The  five  foes  of  whom  we 
have  found  the  Holy  Spirit  reminding 
us,  are  not  slain,  nor  are  they,  to  our 
experience,  routed.  They  reappear 
with  such  frequency  that  we  are  never 
wholly  free  from  their  taunting,  tortur- 
ing presence.  What  saint,  from  Paul 
to  Miiller,  has  ever  entirely  found  con- 
scious liberty  from  the  law  in  grace! 
How  we  need  to  keep  reminding  our- 
selves that  we  are  on  Sion,  not  under 
Sinai!  How  perpetually  are  we  shad- 
owed by  the  sense  of  condemnation! 
Who  has  ever  entirely  escaped  the  al- 
lurements of  the  world,  so  that  he  is 
adlually  dead  to  its  censure  or  ap- 
proval, indifferent  to  its  opposition  or 
cooperation,  insensible  to  its  attrac- 
tions and  its  ridicule?  Who  is  there 
who  is  nevei-  worldly-minded  and  finds 


166  ITn  Cbrfst  5e0U0 

no  need  of  a  new  turning  of  the  mirror 
of  the  mind  from  the  lower  to  the 
higher  realm  ? 

Has  any  saint  ever  found  the  flesh 
and  the  carnal  man  .subdued?  The 
very  fadl  that  every  one  of  us  finds  the 
flesh  lusting  against  the  Spirit,  and  the 
Spirit  contending  against  the  flesh,  and 
that  we  feel  these  to  be  contrary,  one  to 
the  other,  so  that  we  may  7ioi,  according 
to  the  Spirit,  do  the  things  that  we 
would,  according  to  the  flesh,  shows 
how  to  the  last  we  have  to  acknowledge 
our  deliverance  to  be  but  partial. 

Need  it  be  said  that  the  self-life  is  never 
wholly  destroyed  in  us  while  we  are  in 
the  world  ?  We  may  think  that  self 
is  dead,  but  our  very  thought  is  an  evi- 
dence of  its  survival,  and  perhaps  a 
proof  of  its  pride.  We  slay  self  in  one 
form,  and  it  seems  to  be  the  more  alive 
in  every  other,  until  what  we  think  the 
death  of  self-praise,  proves  only  the 
boastfulness  of  a  conscious  humility 


tTbessalonians  167 

which  is  proven,  by  such  conscious- 
ness, to  be  no  humiHty  at  all.  Here 
is  the  subtlest  of  our  foes,  and  the  most 
persistent  of  life,  as  well  as  the  most 
multiplied  of  form. 

And  as  to  the  devil,  obviously  he  is 
not  dead.  The  saintliest  priest  of  God 
can  not  stand  at  His  altar  without  the 
unseen  Satanic  foe  at  his  right  hand 
to  resist  him.  We  go  up  to  the  heaven- 
lies  in  the  rapt  communion  with  God, 
but  in  the  heavenlies  are  the  hostile 
principalities  and  powers  (Kph.  vi:  lo). 
There  is  no  escape  from  the  approach 
of  this  devouring  lion.  We  may  in- 
deed escape  his  jaws  and  his  paws,  but 
we  hear  his  roar  and  we  tremble  as  we 
remember  how  many  in  their  securest 
moments  have  become  his  vidlims. 

The  day  will  come,  when  even  Death, 
the  last  enemy,  will  be  destroyed,  and 
we  shall  be  free  to  enjoy  Him  who  is 
our  life,  without  even  the  presence  of 
a  foe.     What  a  life  that  will  be  in  Him 


168  ITn  Cbriat  5e6U0 

— when  the  law  is  forever  silenced  as 
our  accuser,  and  Sinai's  summit  forever 
disappears !  What  a  freedom  when  sin 
no  longer  dwells  in  us,  but  our  very 
nature  is  purged  of  its  hateful  presence ! 
What  a  deliverance,  when  the  world 
to  come  displaces  the  world  that  now 
is,  and  there  are  no  allurements  that 
draw  from  God!  What  a  death,  when 
self  gives  up  the  ghost,  and  the  life  of 
Christ  is  all  the  life  we  know !  When 
the  flesh  and  carnal  mind  are  eternally 
gone,  that  the  Spirit  may  rule  every 
motion  within  us!  And,  when  the  bot- 
tomless pit  closes  its  doors  over  the 
adversary  of  God  and  man,  never  again 
to  release  him;  and,  before  the  Lion  of 
the  tribe  of  Judah,  the  lion  that  roars 
in  our  path  and  seeks  to  devour  our 
souls,  falls  in  final  destrudlion — what  a 
shout  of  deliverance  will  ring  through 
all  the  universe  of  redeemed  souls  and 
unfallen  angels! 

Over  these  two  epistles  might  be 


Q;be00alonlan0  169 

written  one  sublime  word,  victory.  A 
salvation  complete  and  glorious  draws 
nearer  than  when  we  believed,  and 
this  is  held  up  before  us  continually 
in  these  two  letters.  The  phrases 
which  abound  here  are  found  in  their 
variety  and  combination  nowhere  else, 
for  they  grow  naturally  out  of  such  a 
soil  :  ' '  patience  of  hope, "  ' '  joy  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,"  '' to  wait  for  His  Son 
from  heaven, "  ' '  God  who  hath  called 
you  unto  His  kingdom  and  glory," 
* '  at  the  coming  of  our  lyord  Jesus 
Christ  with  all  His  saints,"  ''the 
I/)rd  Jesus  shall  be  revealed  from 
heaven,"  etc.  And,  as  these  phrases 
abound,  so  these  epistles  abound  in 
arguments  for  holy  living  drawn  from 
the  glorious  and  blessed  hope  which 
illumines  the  future.  There  is  scarce 
a  grace  or  virtue  in  the  whole  blessed 
catalogue  of  saintly  excellencies  and 
adornments,  for  which  this  future 
vidlory  and  glory  presents  no  new  in- 


170  f n  Cbrfst  Jcens 

centive  ;  obedience,  service,  patience, 
fidelity,  self-denial,  love,  meditation 
on  the  Word,  joy,  comfort,  stedfastness, 
zeal,  san(5lity,  honesty,  hope,  conso- 
lation, vigilance,  humility,  gentleness, 
supplication,  separation  to  God,  peace 
— all  that  is  most  lovely  and  most 
helpful  is  made  to  hang  upon  the 
cherishing  of  the  blessed  assurance  of 
our  final  triumph  and  blessedness,  in 
Him  who  is  the  Coming  One.  Only  so 
far  as  this  blessed  hope  is  obscured  or 
pradlically  becomes  inoperative  in  our 
lives,  will  our  charadler  and  conducfl  as 
disciples  degenerate. 

Let  us  remember  that  the  coming  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  the  con- 
summation of  all  things  which  pertain 
to  our  redemption.  It  introduces  the 
sublime  closing  scenes  in  the  whole 
history  of  salvation.  There  is  much 
that  can  not  be  revealed  to  the  Church 
and  to  the  angelic  host  in  the  age  that 
now  is,  and  God  waits  for  the  ages  to 


^bc00alonlan0  I7l 

come  to  make  known  His  manifold 
wisdom  and  grace.  He  finds  in  our 
present  experience  no  data  from  which 
to  convey  a  fit  knowledge — no  dialect 
sufiiciently  meaningful  to  express  the 
inexpressible  things  which  must  wait 
for  the  revelation  of  experience. 

The  more  devoutly  we  study  the 
Word,  the  more  we  shall  discover  that, 
like  our  I^ord's  first  advent,  the  present 
revelation  of  grace  is  a  necessary  hid- 
ing of  God's  true  power  ;  new  condi- 
tions are  necessary  for  a  full  disclosure. 
When  He  comes  again  He  will  not 
come  in  disguise,  but  in  proper  attire 
and  with  proper  attendance.  He  will 
be  revealed  as  never  before.  And  all 
spiritual  truth  and  fadl,  pertaining  to 
the  believer,  waits  for  His  true  epiph- 
any, when  His  glory  shall  emerge 
out  of  clouds  into  fulness  of  revela- 
tion. We  can  only,  like  the  Thessa- 
lonians,  '  *  serve  a?id  wait. ' '  To  the 
most  mature  saint,  that  coming  day  is 


172  irn  Cbrist  5esu0 

to  be  as  absolute  a  surprise  as  the 
third  heaven  mysteries  were  to  Paul. 
God  has  something  beyond  all  we 
have  conceived,  waiting  for  us,  at 
Christ's  appearing.  The  words  used 
to  intimate  it  are  the  best  human 
language  supplies,  but  the  mold  is 
too  small  for  the  conception,  and  so 
cramps  it  and  so  distorts  it.  We 
must  see  in  order  to  know^  and  for 
that  vision  we  wait,  with  longing  and 
expedlant  eyes,  until  the  dazzling 
splendor  of  the  coming  King  shall 
declare  what  no  words  can  reveal  or 
unveil. 


VII 

Summary  of  Tkaching  in  Kpisti^k 

TO    THB    ThKSSALONIANS. 


OF 


^^^tST 


.Tttina- 


'^^Z. 


IN   CHRIST 

GLORIFIED. 

Christ  the  Sphere  of  Victory 

Over  All  Foes. 

Sin,  Antichrist,  Satan,  Death  at 

lyAST  Vanquished. 

The  Sphere  also  of  Final  Glory. 

The  Hidden  I^ife  Manifested  and 

^   \  Salvation  Consummated  at  His  Second 

Advent. 

Fruition  of  Hope,  Victory  Over 

Grave. 

Gathering  Together  Unto 

Him. 

Reward    for  Service. 


''/f: 


'/o 


"^nnqiJi^n    •^\?^^ 


conclusion  175 


VIII 

CONCI.USION 

As  we  review  our  studies  of  this  seven- 
fold group  of  letters  to  the  early  Chris- 
tian disciples,  we  find,  first,  a  very  re- 
markable completeness  of  presentation  of 
this  great  privilege  of  the  believer. 
He  is  IN  Christ  Jksus.  In  Him,  he 
finds  a  new  sphere  of  life  with  seven- 
fold blessing.  First,  justification  with 
its  new  standing  and  acceptance  before 
God.  Second,  sanctification  with  its 
new  power  for  holy  living  in  the  Spirit 
of  God.  Third,  fellowship  with  God 
in  the  a(5lual  pracftical  walk  in  new- 
ness of  life.  Fourth,  exaltation  to  the 
heavenlies  in  an  earnest  or  foretaste  of 
a  heavenly  life.  Fifth,  compensation 
for  all  present  self-denials  and  suffer- 
ings   and    renunciations  for    Christ's 


176  f  n  Cbrfst  5c5U0 

sake.  Sixth,  identification  with  Christ 
in  His  present  hidden  life  at  the  right 
hand  of  the  Father.  Seventh,  glorifi- 
cation when  He  comes  to  be  admired 
and  adored  of  all  His  waiting  body, 
the  members,  whose  manifestation 
awaits  His  final  epiphany  as  their  head. 
To  this  scarce  anything  could  be 
added.  All  that  subsequent  epistles 
can  do  is  to  amplify  what  is  here  sug- 
gested. 

We  notice  also  a  marked  progress  of 
thought  which  is  the  more  remarkable 
inasmuch  as  the  canonical  order  of  the 
books  we  have  studied  is  not  their 
chronological  and  historical  or ^er.  As 
to  the  composition  of  these  letters, 
First  Thessalonians,  one  of  the  last, 
belongs  first.  We  might  almost  say 
the  canonical  order  reverses  the  his- 
torical. And  yet  the  order  of  the  teach- 
ing, as  we  have  seen,  is  exa(5lly  cor- 
respondent to  the  order  of  events  in  our 
Lord's  human  life,  so  that  we  can  not 


Concluafon  177 


imagine  these  epistles  to  have  fallen  by- 
accident  into  their  existing  arrange- 
ment any  more  than  ''a  dropped 
alphabet  could  be  picked  up,  an  Iliad, ' ' 
or  fragments  of  many-colored  glass 
could  be  thrown  together  into  a  mosaic. 
Behind  the  order  of  these  books,  as 
they  appear  in  our  New  Testament, 
must  lie  a  guiding  Hand. 

Manifestly  there  are,  in  our  Lord's 
human  and  mediatorial  life,  seven 
marked  stages,  which  naturally  asso- 
ciate themselves  with  certain  events 
whose  order  is  unchangeable: 

1.  His  death,  burial,  and  resur- 
rec5lion. 

2.  His  breathing  of  the  indwelling 
Spirit  into  His  disciples. 

3.  His  forty  days  of  walk  in  resur- 
rection newness  of  life. 

4.  His  ascension  to  the  heavenlies 
and  gift  of  the  Spirit  in  power. 

5.  His  compensation  for  suffering  in 
the  joy  set  before  Him. 


178  Hn  Cbrist  ^csns 

6.  His  session  at  the  right  hand  of 
God — the  hidden  life  above. 

7.  His  manifestation  or  final  epiph- 
any in  His  second  advent. 

But  this  is  exadlly,  and  in  every 
particular,  the  order  of  thought  as 
found  in  these  epistles,  which,  as  we 
have  said,  are  not  in  the  order  of  their 
produdlion  by  the  inspired  writer. 

In  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  the 
death,  burial,  and  resurredlion  of  our 
lyord  are  the  center  of  the  argument, 
and  are  specially  conspicuous. 

In  the  two  Epistles  to  the  Corin- 
thians, the  grand  controlling,  per- 
vading conception  is  that  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  as  the  very  breath  of  God, 
imparted  to  disciples,  and  becoming 
in  them  the  secret  of  holiness. 

In  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  the 
emphasis  is  upon  the  walk  in  the 
Spirit,  wherein  the  lusts  of  the  flesh 
are  no  longer  fulfilled,  and  new  liberty 
is  found  for  service. 


Conclusfon  179 


In  the  Epistle  to  the  Kphesians  we 
are  taught  that,  in  Christ,  we  are  as- 
cended into  the  heavenlies  and,  while 
living  on  earth,  essentially  experience 
heavenly  joys.  Notice  here  also  the 
emphasis  upon  the  Pentecostal  gift  of 
the  Spirit,  as  the  Spirit  of  Love  and 
Power. 

In  the  Epistle  to  the  Philippians,  the 
great  thought  is  the  joy  set  before  us, 
which  makes  all  the  best  things  of  earth 
to  seem  mere  refuse  and  dross ,  to  be 
trodden  under  foot;  and  all  partaking 
of  Christ's  sufferings,  nothing  but  an 
occasion  of  rejoicing. 

In  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians,  we 
see  our  privilege  of  being,  in  Christ, 
seated  at  God's  right  hand,  so  that  we 
reckon  on  all  future  vicflories  over  sin 
as  already  accomplished. 

In  the  Epistles  to  the  Thessalonians 
our  ultimate  participation  with  our 
ascended  Lord  in  the  glory  of  His  reap- 
pearing and  the   final  triumph  over 


180  fn  Cbrlst  ^cbvlb 

death  and  the  grave,  are  set  be- 
fore us. 

It  might  be  observed  that  this  order 
is  conspicuously  similar  to  that  in  the 
Intercessory  Prayer  in  John  xvii,  where 
we  are  led  on  from  the  sanctity  ^  or 
separation  unto  God,  of  the  believers, 
to  their  unity  with  Christ  and  each 
other,  and  then  to  their  final  beholding 
and  sharing  of  l^\s  glory. 

The  present  schemes  for  church  unity 
too  often  overlook  the  fadl  that  the 
basis  for  all  true  unity  must  be  found, 
not  in  a  new  organization  more  com- 
pact in  character,  but  a  new  sanctifica- 
tion,  more  complete  in  its  nature.  The 
Epistle  to  the  Kphesians  first,  of  all  the 
epistles,  unfolds  the  oneness  of  believers 
in  Christ  Jesus.  Paul  ascribes  to  Him 
the  making  one  of  both  Jew  and  Gen- 
tile, and  the  breaking  down  of  the 
middle  wall  of  partition — that  balus- 
trade of  stone  separating  the  court  of  the 
Gentiles  from  the  Holy  Place,  beyond 


Concluaion  181 


which  it  was  death  for  any  Gentile  to 
pass.  And  there  was  a  further  *  *  mid- 
dle wall  of  partition,"  which  excluded 
even  Jews  from  the  court  of  priests,  and 
from  the  Holiest  of  All.      Bph.  ii :  14. 

That  epistle,  which  also  in  the  fourth 
chapter  gives  the  septiform  of  Christian 
unity,  teaches  us  that  it  is  a  unity  of  the 
Spirit,  and  only  as  that  Spirit  of  God 
is  in  adlual  control,  can  there  be  a  true 
inward  unity.  Such  unity  as  Christ 
prayed  for  is  dependent  on  sandlity, 
and  prepares  for  glory.  Let  us  be  con- 
tent with  no  other — unification  is  not 
always  unity. 

The  companion  thought  to  all  this 
is  one  which  ministers  to  our  highest 
consolation  and  comfort:  "Herein  is 
our  love  made  perfedl  that  we  may 
have  boldness  in  the  Day  of  Judgment, 
because,  as  He  is,  so  are  we  in  this 
world."  I.  John,  iv  :  17.  The  only 
way  for  lyove  to  be  made  perfe<5l,  so  as 
to  cast  out  fear,  and  so  that  we  may 


182  f  n  Cbtfst  5CSU6 

have  boldness  in  the  Day  of  Judgment, 
is  to  remember  and  realize  our  complete 
oneness  with  Him — that,  as  He  is  there, 
so  are  we  here;  all  that  He  is  and  has 
attained,  obtained,  secured,  by  His 
atoning  death  and  holy  obedience  and 
mediation,  He  is  and  has,  as  our  repre- 
sentative— the  second  Adam. 

Neither  the  Day  of  Judgment  nor 
the  day  of  reward  is  wholly  future. 
Every  day  is  one  of  award.  When- 
ever we  confront  the  Word  of  God, 
His  Holy  Spirit,  His  law,  our  own  con- 
science, the  all-knowing  God  himself, 
we  are  in  the  virtual  presence  of  His 
mercy  seat  and  judgment  seat.  And 
in  the  midst  of  all  the  terrors  of  His 
omniscient  eye,  there  is  but  one  de- 
liverance from  mortal  fear — we  are  hi 
Christ  and  identified  with  Him.  God 
sees  us  not  as  we  are  in  ourselves,  but 
as  we  are  in  Christ  Jesus ;  and  con- 
demnation is  impossible,  as  impossible 
to  us  as  to  Him.     And  so,  wonderful 


Conclusion  183 


as  it  seems,  because  we  are  in  Him, 
His  reward  is  ours,  and  to  realize  in 
any  measure  our  oneness  with  Him  is 
so  far  to  anticipate  and  make  present 
in  foretaste  our  day  of  coronation  and 
glorification.  Our  one  aim  should 
therefore  be  a  full  appropriation  by  us 
of  all  that  is  freely  given  to  us,  and 
appropriated  by  God  for  us  in  our 
Lord  Jesus.  We  should  seek  to  cast 
out  unbelief,  and  in  faith  receive  and 
enjoy  all  that  our  God  has  bestowed 
and  challenged  us  to  claim  as  our  own, 
in  Him. 

The  study  of  this  subjedt,  as  thus 
unfolded  in  these  epistles,  is 

A  study  of  salvation.  This  word  is 
used  in  the  New  Testament  in  at  least 
three  very  distinct  and  yet  associated 
senses: 

1.  Of  an  accomplished  fact,  Luke 
xix  19.  "  This  day  is  salvation  come 
to  this  house. ' ' 

2.  Of   a  process    to    be    carried   on 


184  iTn  Cbrist  5e0U0 

through  life.  Phil,  ii  :  12.  "Work 
out  your  own  salvation, ' '  HaTEpydied^e, 
work  out  thoroughly,  carry  to  comple- 
tion 

3.  Of  a  Ji7ial  result  in  perfeBion  in 
glory.  I.  Peter  i  :  5  :  '*  Kept  by  the 
power  of  God  through  faith  unto  sal- 
vation, ready  to  be  revealed  in  the  last 
day,"  aTtoxaXvcpBrjvai,  to  be  brought 
to  light  as  something  hitherto  hidden. 

It  is  worthy  of  particular  notice  that 
the  first  and  last  are  simply  bestowed 
by  grace  as  a  gift  of  God,  not  of  our- 
selves or  having  any  diredl  connec5lion 
with  our  endeavors  or  cooperation. 
But  the  second  depends  upon  our  joint 
a(5lion  with  God.  ''  Work  out  your 
own  salvation,  for  it  is  God  who 
worketh  in  you  both  to  will  and  to 
work. ' '  All  through,  the  salvation  is 
wholly  a  divine  work;  but  it  is  beau- 
tiful to  observe  how  clearly  defined  in 
each  case,  and  how  distindl,  our  atti- 
tude is.     When  salvation  comes  to  us 


Conclusfon  185 


as  to  Zaccheus,  our  attitude  is  simply 
that  of  the  faith  which  receives,  ac- 
cepts, appropriates  the  gift  of  God. 
The  salvation,  which  we  work  out  with 
fear  and  trembling,  demands  a  love  re- 
sponsive to  God's  love,  and  which 
yields  our  will  to  His  will,  and  leads 
us  to  work  as  He  works  in  us.  The 
salvation  which  He  reserves  for  us  and 
reveals  at  the  final  advent  of  our  lyord 
in  glory,  is  one  upon  which  our  hope 
is  to  fix  its  gaze  and  which  it  is  to 
hold  in  perpetual  contemplation. 

Taken  together  these  three  give  us 
the  complete  conception  of  salvation.  It 
begins  \xs.  justification^  which  is  received 
at  once  and  forever  as  the  free  gift  of 
God  by  faith  in  Christ.  The  process 
of  salvation  is  sanctif  cation,  in  which 
our  new  love  to  God  leads  us  to  will 
what  He  wills,  and  work  out  what  He 
works  in.  The  completed  and  glorious 
salvation,  which  awaits  us  at  the  last 
day,  is  oui glorification,  which  our  hope 


186  Hn  Cbrist  Jesus 

is  to  anticipate  and  contemplate  as  a 
final  state  of  perfec5lion. 

A  comprehensive  presentation  of  the 
whole  matter  may  be  found  in  Titus  ii : 
11-13,  which  is  a  very  conspicuous 
statement  of  the  entire  work  of  Christ 
in  human  salvation.  Here  are  two 
appearings  or  epiphanies  of  our  I^ord. 
At  the  first,  there  is  a  salvation 
brought  to  all  men  ;  at  the  second, 
a  salvation  perfedted  in  glory  for 
saints ;  and,  between  the  two,  there 
lies  the  experience  of  the  disciple 
in  this  present  evil  age,  when  he  is  to 
work  out  his  own  salvation — by  deny- 
ing himself  ungodliness  and  every 
worldly  lust,  and  by  living  soberly 
(as  to  himself),  righteously  (as  to 
other  men) ,  and  godly  (as  to  God) . 

No  man  has  any  proper  sense  of  the 
grandeur  of  Christ's  work  of  salvation, 
who  does  not  apprehend  the  threefold 
aspecfl  of  that  work  ;  and  much  con- 
fusion of  ideas  will  be  avoided  so  soon 


Conclusion  187 


as  we  get   these  distindlions  clearly 
fixed  in  mind. 

For  example,  how  much  needless 
mystification  has  come  from  not  proper- 
ly understanding  the  two  apparent  con- 
ditio7is  of  salvation  in  Paul's  famous 
' '  word  ' '  or  message  '  *  of  faith  ' '  in 
Romans  x  :  8,  9,  lo.  Here  inquirers 
after  salvation  have  often  stumbled, 
because  confession  with  the  mouth 
seems  coupled  with  belief  in  the  heart, 
as  though  the  two  were  equally 
necessary  to  salvation  ;  whereas,  in  no 
other  case  is  confession  thus  made 
essential.  For  example,  Philip  told 
the  eunuch,  Acts  viii  :  37  :  "If 
thou  believest  with  all  thine  heart 
thou  mayest."  And  Paul  told  the 
Philippian  jailer  (Acts  xvi  :  30,  31)  : 
* '  Believe  on  the  lyord  Jesus  Christ  and 
thou  shalt  be  saved."  There  is  no 
mistaking  New  Testament  teaching  on 
this  point.  See  Adls  xiii :  38,  39, 
where     Paul    in    the    synagogue    at 


188  f  n  Cbrtet  5csu0 

Antioch  in  Pisidia  says  :  "By  Him 
all  that  believe  are  justified  from  all 
things." 

How  then  can  this  same  Paul 
teach  Roman  Christians  that  confes- 
sion with  the  mouth  is  essential  to 
salvation  ? 

If  we  notice  carefully  the  language 
he  used,  we  shall  see  that  the  reference 
is  not  the  same,  in  the  two  parts  of  his 
message. 

The  message  of  faith :  With  the 
heart  man  believeth  unto  righteous- 
ness, and  with  the  mouth  confession  is 
made  unto  salvation  ;  the  former  is 
the  salvation  that  comes  at  once  to 
faith  —  righteousness  mainly  in  the 
sense  of  justification  ;  the  other  salva- 
tion is  that  which  is  to  be  worked  out 
by  us  in  obedience  and  conformity  to 
God,  and,  of  this  obedience,  confession 
is  the  first  great  adl.  Hence  also  Paul 
says,  if  thou  shalt  confess  with  thy 
mouth  Jesus  as  Lord — that  is  as  adlual 


Concluefon  189 


ruler  and  sovereign  of  thy  whole  self — 
thou  shalt  be  saved. 

Again  let  us  observe  the  growth  of 
this  complete  salvation.  Justification 
is  instant  deliverance  from  the  penalty 
of  sin ;  sandlification  is  progressive 
deliverance  from  the  power  of  sin ; 
glorification  is  final  deliverance  from 
\he. presence  of  sin. 

How  blessed  pradlically  to  learn  this 
holy  lesson  !  We  first  repent  of  sin 
and  believe  on  the  name  of  the  Son  of 
God.  We  have  thus  immediate  salva- 
tion. We  are  accepted  in  the  beloved 
and  have  new  standing  by  grace,  out 
of  the  reach  of  all  condemnation  and 
judgment.  And  now,  as  saved  saints, 
we  are  to  begin  a  life  of  new  and  lov- 
ing conformity  to  the  will  of  God. 
We  are  first  of  all  to  confess  Him  as 
both  Savior  and  Sovereign,  Prophet, 
Priest,  and  King.  Then  we  are  to 
study  conformity  to  His  will  and  con- 
secration to  His  service,  and  so  grow 


190  iTn  Cbrfet  5e0U0 

in  grace  and  knowledge  of  Himself, 
changed  into  His  image  from  one 
degree  of  grace  and  glory  to  another ; 
and  so  we  shall  find  our  salvation  itself 
growing;  we  shall  be  saved  from  the 
dominion  of  sin,  the  sway  of  self,  from 
unfruitfulness  and  unfaithfulness,  and 
saved  from  final  apostasy. 

And  when  He  comes  again  our 
blessed  hope  will  find  fruition  in  the 
perfection  of  a  faultless  as  well  as 
blameless  charac5ler,  and  a  perfec5l  con- 
dition of  heavenly  bliss  and  glory. 

Such  is  the  salvation  found  in  Him 
who  is  the  sphere  of  the  believer's  life, 
the  objedl  of  his  justifying  faith,  his 
sandlifying  love,  his  glorifying  hope. 
Where  else  has  any  such  salvation 
been  found,  ofiered,  or  even  sug- 
gested ?  We  hear  much  of  the  other 
* '  great  religions  of  the  world, ' '  but 
not  one  of  them  has  even  hinted 
the  possibility  of  such  a  salvation. 
For  that  the  race  had  to  wait  for  a 


Conclusion  i9i 


diredl    revelation    from    God    out  of 
heaven. 

One  thought  remains  to  be  con- 
sidered :  the  conditions  of  our  entrance 
into  this  sphere  of  being.  How  am  I 
to  get  into  Christ  Jesus  and  so  abide 
in  Him  ?  There  are  two  sides  to  this 
matter:  hy  faith  as  my  own  adl,  by  re- 
generation as  God's  adl.  On  the  one 
hand  I  repent  of  sin,  and  trust  in  Him 
as  my  Savior.  I  deliberately  choose 
to  be  in  Him,  in  Him  to  live  and  move 
and  have  my  being,  to  have  Him  sur- 
rounding and  separating  me  from  all 
else  unto  Himself,  and  providing  me 
in  Himself  with  all  my  needs  and  de- 
sires, and  protedling  me  in  Himself 
from  all  my  fears  and  foes.  But  all 
this  would  not  introduce  me  into 
Christ  as  the  new  sphere  of  my  life, 
but  for  the  power  of  God.  It  is  not 
enough  to  enter  a  new  sphere  of  life. 
I  must  have  capacity  to  live  in  that 
new  sphere  and  to  breathe  its  atmos- 


192  irn  Cbrl0t  5e6U0 

phere.  Every  form  of  life  has  its 
sphere,  and  requires  adaptation  to  it. 
As  we  have  already  seen,  what  is  life 
to  one  animal  may  be  death  to  an- 
other, and  reversely.  If  the  bird  is  to 
live  in  the  water,  it  needs  gills;  if  the 
fish  is  to  live  in  the  air,  it  needs  lungs. 
Every  sphere  of  existence  has  its  laws, 
and  demands  adaptation  of  nature  to 
enter  into  and  live  in  the  new  element. 
Hence  He  who  created  us  must  re- 
create us,  giving  us  the  power  or 
right  to  enter  this  new  sphere  of  being, 
and  the  power  or  capacity  to  receive  and 
enjoy  life  in  Christ  Jesus.  Both  sides 
of  this  great  matter  are  presented  to 
us  in  one  or  two  verses  in  John  i  :  12, 
13,  "  As  many  as  received  Him^  even 
to  them  that  believe  on  His  name^  to 
them  gave  He  power  (right  or  au- 
thority) to  become  the  sons  of  God; 
which  were  born  not  of  blood,  nor  of 
the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of 
man ,  but  of  God . ' '     Here  the  believing 


Conclusion  193 


or  receiving  is  the  human  adt  of  faith, 
and  the  giving  of  power  or  capacity 
to  become  sons  of  God,  to  be  born  of 
God,  is  regeneration,  the  Divine  adl  of 
new  birth. 

What  a  privilege  to  be  thus  insphered 
in  Christ  !  Who  can  describe  the 
security,  the  absolute  safety  of  a  dis- 
ciple who  abides  in  Him  ?  The  more 
we  search  into  the  wonderful  Word  of 
God,  the  more  shall  we  be  persuaded 
that  there  are  concentric  circles  about 
God,  and  that  the  closer  we  get  and 
keep  to  Him  as  center,  the  more  im- 
munity we  shall  have  from  evils  of 
every  sort.  In  the  inmost  circle  of 
intimate  fellowship  perhaps  no  saint 
has  ever  yet  dwelt.  But  who  can 
limit  the  possibilities  of  a  holy  life  ? 
What  closeness  of  union  and  com- 
munion may  yet  remain  to  be  enjoyed 
by  some  who  more  completely  than 
has  ever  yet  been  realized,  hide  them- 
selves in  the  pavilion  of  God  and  abide 


194  Hn  Cbrtet  5e0ug 

in  the  secret  place  of  the  most  high, 
under  the  shadow  of  the  Almighty, 
covered  with  His  breast  feathers  and 
trusting  under  His  wings!    Psalm  xci. 

The  whole  challenge  of  our  theme  is 
in  the  direcflion  of  2,  full  conformity  to 
Christ.  And  what  is  conformity,  but 
transformity !  Rom.  xii  :  2.  To  be 
conformed  is  to  be  transformed,  to  be 
so  assimilated  to  God  as  to  lose  one's 
spiritual  separation  from  Him. 

Dr.  Edward  Judson  calls  attention  to 
a  sort  of  fish,  or  water  animal,  ' '  which 
resembles  seagrass,  and  hides  itself  in 
the  midst  of  marine  vegetation.  Below 
is  the  head,  looking  like  the  bulb  of 
the  plant,  and  above  is  the  body  and 
the  tail,  looking  like  the  blade  of  sea- 
grass.  The  ocean  currents  sway  the 
fish  and  the  grass  alike,  and  so  the 
little  fish  escapes  being  devoured  by 
its  enemies.  It  swims  along,  and  one 
can  hardly  perceive  where  fish  leaves  oflf 
and  the  grass  begins,  so  perfedl  is  the 


Conclusion  195 


disguise.  So  a  great  many  Christians* 
lives  are  so  blended  with  the  world  that 
they  can  not  easily  be  distinguished. 
They  are  swayed  by  worldly  maxims 
and  habits;  they  share  with  the  world  in 
its  sinful  pleasures.  The  difference 
between  such  Christians  and  worldlings 
is  not  apparent.  If  this  is  the  kind  of 
Christian  life  you  are  living,  you  need 
not  be  afraid  of  persecution;  the  world 
wiU  not  think  it  worth  while  to  molest 
such  a  Christian  as  that.  You  will  not 
know  what  it  is  to  drink  of  the  cup 
that  Christ  drank  of,  and  to  be  baptized 
with  the  baptism  that  He  was  baptized 
with.  But  let  a  man  come  out  into  the 
front,  let  him  engage  in  some  aggres- 
sive Christian  work,  and  he  will  meet 
the  same  opposition  which  was  experi- 
enced by  the  One  who  said:  *  I  came 
not  to  send  peace,  but  a  sword.'  " 

May  we  not  add,  that  it  is  the  privi- 
lege of  a  disciple,  on  the  other  hand,  to 
be  so  insphered  in  Christ  as  to  be  identi- 


196  ITn  Cbrfat  ^esus 

fied  with  and  inseparable  from  Him, 
so  that  it  may  be  a  grand  fadl,  ' '  For 
to  me,  to  live  is  Christy  Oh,  that  the 
child  of  God  might  be  so  assimilated  to 
Him  that  he  could  no  longer  be  dis- 
tinguished from  Him  in  characfter  and 
life! 

What  a  life  that  would  be  that  mor- 
tifies all  that  is  evil  and  unlawful,  and 
sancftifies  all  that  is  lawful  and  good. 

Surely  it  is  high  time  for  believers 
to  awake  out  of  sleep  !  What  awful 
apathy  and  lethargy  exist  in  the  matter 
of  spiritual  life  and  power  and  vi(5lory ! 
If  such  final  glory  and  triumph  are 
assured  in  Christ  Jesus,  may  not  the 
very  promise  and /n^i^^c/  of  such  vic- 
tory, the  assurance  of  such  a  destiny, 
inspire  and  insure  present  holy  living  ! 
These  Thessalonians  turned  from  idols 
to  serve  the  living  God  and  to  w^ait  for 
His  Son  from  heaven.  They  served 
the  better  because  they  waited.  Hope 
readied  on  faith  and  love  and  obedi- 


Conclueion  197 


ence.  No  believer  can  truly  believe 
that  such  final  perfedlion  of  chara<5ler, 
conquest,  and  reward  is  before  him 
without  being  a  stronger,  better, 
holier  man  for  the  outlook.  And  the 
close  of  the  first  epistle  is  the  sublime 
expression  of  this  argument. 

"  Abstain  from  every  form  of  evil, 
And  the  very  God  of  Peace 

Sandlify  you  wholly. 
And  your  whole  spirit,  soul,  and  body  be  pre- 
served blameless 
Unto  the  com.ing  of  our  I^ord  Jesus  Christ. 
Faithful  is  He  that  calleth  you, 

WHO   ALSO   WILL   DO  IT." 


VIII 

Genkrai.   Summary  of  Tkaching 
Romans  to  Thkssai.onians. 

^^^    OF    CHR:^^ 

%**  ^^^-"^""^  '""'^'^^^    & 

^     ^^      IN   CHRIST      ^\,\^ 
JUSTIFIED,    SANCTI- 
FIED,   CRUCIFIED,   ASCEND- 
ED, SATISFIED,  COMPLETE, 
GI.ORIFIED. 
Christ  the  Sphere  of 
Justification,  Sanctification,  Newness 
OF  lyiFE,  Heavenly  Foretaste,  Compen- 
sation, Completeness,  Glorification. 
Believer  Identified  with 
His  Death  and  Resurrection,  His 
Holy  Spirit,  His  "  Forty  Days, 
His  Ascension,  His  Joy  After  Suf- 
fering, His  Seat  at  God's 
Right  Hand,  His  Second 


"^  Xw  Coming. 


*'^/oajn»|aj940i   **^^ 


Date  Due 

Je  2  8  ',?ft 

T  'J  16, 

i.'    5      -ii 

^ 

Aiii^m 

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■""^""^ 

JAfHr^ 

T^Sf^**" 

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AU6292 

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